^Di^ai^D 



FARM 



G^O^G^ 



IMPROVEMENT 



r NEW YORK 

(entrai 



INES 



USE OF EXPLOSIVES 
IN FARM WORK 



Issued by 
HEW YORK CEHTRAl k HUDSON RIVER RAILROAD CO. 



Improving Crop Yields 

By the Use of 

Dynamite 




, NEW YORK , 

(entral 

^ . LINES . ' 



Issued by 

FARM BUREAU 

The New York Central & Hudson River Railroad Co. 

Grand Central Terminal 

New York City 






'i^.K 



Copyrighted 1911 
BY 

New York Central & Hudson River Railroad Co. 



s. 



H • V 



PRINTED BY 

THE LORD BALTIMORE PRESS 

BALTIMORE, MD. 



INDEX 

PAGE 

Bar for Punching Holes 51 

Bigtree Stumps 31 

Blasting Caps 93 

Blasting by Electricity 94 

Blasting Machines 96 

Blasting Supplies 93 

Boulder Blasting 39 

Burning Out Stumps 17 

Caps: Blasting 93 

Cap Crimpers 94 

Cedar Stumps : Western 29 

Cellar Digging 53 

Charging 91 

Clearing Land 13 

Connecting Wire 97 

Cultivating Fruit Trees 79 

Cypress Stumps 33 

Detonators 86 

Ditching 45 

Draining Swamps 53 

Electrical Blasting 94 

Electric Fuzes 97 

Explosives: Principle of 85 

Felling Trees 35 

Fir Stumps: Western 29 

Foundations: Excavating for, 55 

Fuse 93 

Fuzes: Electric 97 

3 



HANDBOOK OF EXPLOSIVES 

PAGE 

Hardpan Blasting 63 

Ice Blasting 79 

Implements Used in Land Clearing 19 

Introduction 7 

Leading Wire 97 

Log Jams o2 

Log Splitting 35 

Note 92 

Ordering 98 

Packages of Explosives 86 

Pine Stumps: Southern 25 

Pine Stumps: Western 29 

Planting Fruit Trees 71 

Plowing with Dynamite 63 

Post Hole Digging 57 

Precautions 99 

Priming 89-98 

Principle of Explosives 85 

Redwood Stumps 31 

Road Building 55 

Second-Growth Stumps 27 

Sinking Wells 57 

Southern Pine Stumps 25 

Splitting Logs 35 

Storage of Explosives 86 

Stump Blasting 32 

4 



INDEX CONTINUED 

PAGE 

Stump Blasting; Advantages of 13 

" Cost of 15 

Gauging the Charge 15 

Proper Explosive for 14 

Subsoil Blasting 63 

Swamp Draining 53 

Tamping 92 

Thawing of Dynamite 87 

Thawing Kettles 87 

Transportation of Explosives 86 

Tree Felling 35 

Tree Planting and Cultivating 71 

Well Sinking ")! 

Western Cedar Stumps 29 

Western Fir Stumps 29 

Western Pine Stumps 29 

Wire: Leading and Connecting 97 



INTRODUCTION 



NOT many years ago the farm was about the last place where 
one would expect to find up-to-date mechanical appliances. 

Steam, explosives, electricity — the factors which have made 
the world what it is to-day — were indispensable for the railroad 
and the steamboat, the factory and the mine, but the farmer's work 
was generally run on a comparatively small scale, and was mostly 
done by the muscles of men or draft animals. To-day, however, 
the farmer, as well as the manufacturer, the contractor and the miner, 
fully appreciates the value of labor-saving devices. Every up-to-date 
farm, large or small, has modern machinery that tends to reduce 
the cost of production or to improve farm products. 

Explosives were first used in warfare and hunting, then for 
blasting. Their early use in mining and excavating was very limited, 
but it did not take long to learn that, if used in the right way, they 
could do in an instant as much work as a man, or even a machine, 
could do in many days. As soon as this was understood, explosives 
were applied to new kinds of work and special kinds of explosives 
were produced, particularly adapted to these new uses. 

The history of the use of explosives in farming has been much 
the same as in other industries. At first it was supposed that they 
could only be used for loosening stumps, so that they could be dug 
out more easily. Later on, after stump blasting had been carefully 
studied, and more suitable and cheaper explosives manufactured, it 
was found that by far the cheapest and quickest way to get rid of 
a stump of any size, no matter what kind of soil it stood in, was 
to lift it completely out of the ground, and split it up at the same 
time, with explosives. 

About this time it was discovered that it was cheaper to blast 
out boulders and plant the ground they occupied than to plow around 
them. Then some enterprising farmer who had had trouble with 
foundations settling, decided that it was a good plan to build his 
house and his barns on rock, and learned that it did not cost much 




-*<:TB|r 



9ms. 




INTRODUCTION 

to do the necessary blasting for foundations and cellars. This led 
to the idea of blasting the rock encountered in digging drains, and 
in using a small quantity of explosives to hurry along the work 
of digging holes for fence posts and for poles. The rock met with 
in sinking wells was soon cut through with explosives. Early in 
the spring, when the ice came down the streams, and a gorge at 
the bridge threatened to cause a flood and carry away the bridge 
too, a little dynamite quickly relieved the situation. In lumber 
districts, log jams were started in the same way, and the use of a 
small quantity of explosives saved time and trouble on the rollway. 

A few years ago the plan of breaking up hardpan and other 
impervious subsoils was tried by Samuel J. Crawford, then gov- 
ernor of Kansas, and a number of other influential Kansans who 
were interested in farming. The results of their experiments were 
so successful that hardpan is now being blasted quite generally, and 
many acres of land, which were practically worthless before they 
were blasted, are now bearing phenomenal crops. 

The most recently discovered plan of saving money by using 
dynamite is in blasting ditches and in draining swamps by blowing 
holes through the impervious clay under them. Dynamite has long 
been used to shatter rock encountered in digging drains and ditches, 
but ditches through earth have never been excavated entirely with 
explosives until recently. 

Many fruit growers know how great a help dynamite is in 
planting fruit trees and in keeping them thrifty. The ground where 
the tree is to be planted can be loosened up, and the hole partly 
dug, in a moment, by exploding a very small charge of dynamite 
a short distance below the surface. 

Good roads about the farm are practically indispensable, and 
they cannot be built quickly or cheaply without at least some ex- 
plosives. 

Explosives are also used to advantage for splitting logs for 
rails or any other purpose, for felling trees, destroying old buildings 
and for almost any kind of work where a strong force, quickly ap- 
plied, is desirable. Dynamite is simply concentrated power or 
condensed strength. In order to have it work in the correct way, 
and move in the right direction, it must be properly harnessed and 
the bit kept in its mouth, but this is easily done if the directions 
given in this handbook are followed intelligently. 

9 



HANDBOOK OF E XPLOSIVES 

As time passes, farmers will find other ways of saving money 
by using explosives, for the demand for farm products is increasing 
so rapidly that greater acreage must be put under cultivation, and 
the old acres must increase their yield. In order to do this success- 
fully and to meet competition, every device and arrangement that 
really saves labor and makes for economy, either in the present or 
the future, must be adopted. The farmer who fails to realize 
this, and still believes that he can get along in the old way, will 
soon find himself hopelessly defeated. 



10 



THE FIRST STAGE 



CLEARING THE LAND 



BLASTING OUT STUMPS 
FELLING TREES 
SPLITTING LOGS 
BLASTING BOULDERS 




A FUTURE SUBJECT 



CLEARING THE LAND 



EVER since the first white man started a permanent settlement 
in this country, the transformation of forests into farms has 

been continuous. So great is the total of land clearing opera- 
tions to-day, and so large is the annual expenditure in this work, 
that it has become a factor of prime importance in the national 
economy, and the necessity for a careful study of all of its phases, 
to the end of improving the various methods now in practice, is every- 
where recognized. 

If, after the passing of the wood-chopper and the sawmill, the 
land were ready for the plow, there would be no problem to solve; 
but a great area covered with stumps — thirty, fifty, a hundred, two 
hundred to the acre — often with boulders scattered here and there, 
is very far from a crop-bearing proposition. This, however, is what 
many of our farms are made from, and the question is, how to 
bring about the necessary transformation without spending more 
than the probable returns will warrant. 

For generations farmers have chopped, burned and dug away 
at stumps which have slowly yielded to their efforts. To-day a 
quicker and more effective way of getting rid of them is imperative. 
The subject has been studied and experimented with for years by 
the Agricultural Department of the National Government and of 
different States, by many large land companies, by railroads and 
by thousands of individuals. Numerous ideas and plans have been 
suggested and worked out, but none of them has been successful or 
economical without the use of dynamite. When explosives are 
properly used, stumps and boulders are not only blasted out of the 
ground, but are at the same time broken into pieces which can be 
easily handled — burned, if stumps, or, if boulders, used for build- 
ing roads, etc. 

When a stump is properly blasted, but little of the soil is thrown 
out with it, and it is not necessary to spend time and money clearing 
the earth from the roots, and filling a great hole in the ground, as 
must be done when the stump is taken out with a stump puller. 

13 



HANDBOOK OF EXPLOSIVES 

Neither is any special fertilization of the spot formerly occupied 
by the stump necessary to bring it into proper crop-bearing condi- 
tion, as must be done after a stump has been burned out. 

Only a very small outlay is necessary at one time when explo- 
sives are used, and one man can work with them just as well as a 
dozen or a hundred. When the proper explosive is selected, and 




A FIVE-FOOT DIAMETER WASHINGTON FIR WINDFALL SHOWING 
THE ENORMOUS SPREAD OF THE ROOTS 

when it is used in the right way, there is no cheaper method of get- 
ting rid of stumps or boulders. 

There are many kinds of dynamite, each expressly intended to 
do a particular kind of work, and as the conditions under which 
stumps and boulders are blasted differ widely, it is not possible to 
recommend any one grade for general use. 

14 



CLEARING THE LAND 

On the Pacific Slope, where the stumps are of great size, stump- 
ing powder is the favorite, but in other parts of this country, where 
the stumps are smaller, dynamite is used almost exclusively. 

It is equally difficult to state accurately, the quantity or strength 
of the explosive necessary to blast out a stump of a given diameter. 
This is because the size of the stump is not the only factor, and 
perhaps not even the most important one, to consider when esti- 
mating the charge required. Whether the soil in which the stump 
stands is wet or dry, light or heavy, the kind of wood, age of the 
stump, the nature and position of the roots, etc., are all matters of 
great importance when determining the quantity, strength and loca- 
tion of the charge of explosives. Careful records have, however, 
been kept of the cost of explosives, including blasting caps and 
fuse or electric fuzes, used in blasting stumps in different parts of 
the country, some of which we give below: 

Average Cost 
Average of Explosives 

Diameter per Stump 

768 Southern Pine Stumps 29" 30c 

78 Oak, Walnut, Gum, etc.. Stumps in Illinois 30" 53c 
329 White Pine, Oak, Maple, Birch, etc.. 

Stumps in Michigan 32" 47c 

37 Apple, Ash, Oak and Chestnut Stumps in 

Pennsylvania 341/2' 56c 

11 Washington Fir Stumps 50" $1.13 

The explosive used in most cases, except for blasting the Wash- 
ington firs, was 40 per cent, dynamite. The fir stumps were blasted 
with 20 per cent, strength stumping powder and low powder (5 
per cent, strength). These calculations are based on retail, not 
wholesale prices. 

Records kept by A. J. McGuire, Superintendent of the North- 
east Experimental Farm of the University of Minnesota, show 
even lower costs. 

Some of Mr. McGuire's records are as follows : 

Average Cost 
Average of Explosives 

Diameter per Stump 

255 Popple 14" 12c 

255 Jack Pine, Norway Pine and White Pine 141/3" 18c 
395 Birch, Ash, Spruce, Pine, etc 20" 16c 

15 



HANDBOOK OF EXPLOSIVES 



Mr. McGuire used 25 per cent, to 40 per cent, ammonia 
dynamite, and states that the best and most economical results were 
had with 25 per cent, and 21 per cent, grades. 

The Iowa State College recently blasted eighty-two oak and 
elm stumps and trees averaging 20 inches in diameter, at an aver- 
age cost of about 38 cents each for explosives. 

On a large land clearing operation in Minnesota during the 
summer of 1909, eight thousand, nine hundred and seventy stumps 
were blasted out. Although a considerable number of these were 




WASHINGTON FIR STUMPS 



large pine stumps, an average of less than three-quarters of a pound 
of dynamite per stump was used. 

Accurate records of the cost of blasting stumps on a Long Island 
farm, including the wages of the men who did the work, were 
recently kept by representatives of the Long Island Railroad Com- 

16 



CLEARING THE LAND 

pany. The entire cost of blasting out and burning up one hundred 
stumps was only $ 1 6. 

Although one unaccustomed to using explosives might find the 
costs running higher at the start than some of those given above, 
it does not require an unusual amount of experience to learn approxi- 
mately the minimum charge required to blast stumps. 

When cut-over land, which is covered with stumps and 
boulders, can be cleared, and turned into farms at a profit, it is 
hard to understand why anyone should let stumps or boulders take 
up valuable land, plowing around them year after year. A lot of 
time is wasted swinging around even a few stumps and boulders 
when plowing a field, to say nothing of the damage to plow, harness 
and team if a root is struck. Besides this, each medium-sized stump, 
with its spreading roots, or even a comparatively small boulder, 
will take up the space of many stalks of corn or of other crops. It 
has been estimated that a single stump of average size occupies as 
much ground as would support six hills of corn. 



The corn from six hills would in a very few years 
pay for enough dynamite to blow out many stumps 
and boulders. 



One suggestion which should be made to those who have land 
to clear is: Always do your stump blasting, if possible, when the 
ground is wet. Almost every kind of ground when it is wet, offers 
stronger resistance to the action of dynamite than it does when dry. 
Therefore, when the ground is wet a stump or boulder can be 
blasted out with less djmamite than when the same ground is dry. 

One of the most objectionable methods of trying to get rid of 
stumps is burning them out. When stumps have been blasted out 
and split up with dynamite, it is an easy matter to heap up the 
pieces and burn them, but to burn a standing stump is a different 
proposition. Those who have tried it can testify to the time spent 
in keeping the fire going, and that it is practically impossible in this 
way to get rid of much of the stump below the surface of the ground. 
Probably the worst feature of burning out stumps is the damage 

17 



CLEARING THE LAND 

done to the ground by the fire, which burns out the humus to such 
an extent that it requires much cultivation to bring the ground where 
the stump was burned into good condition. The following from 
the Tacoma, Wash., "Ledger** of October 20, 1909, explains very 
clearly the damage done to new land by burning out stumps : 

"Last summer Prof. W. J. McGee, of the Depart- 
ment of Agriculture, in cooperation with Prof. Henry 
Landes, Dr. Benson and Dr. Fry, of the State Univer- 
sity, studied the best methods of utilizing cut-over or 
logged-off lands. Prof. McGee gives some of the find- 
ings, and they argue strongly against burning cut-over 
lands. Fire destroys the humus in the soil, and when the 
humus is gone, the fertility is greatly lessened. The danger 
of burning logged-off lands is that the fire will burn the 
humus for some distance below the surface. When the 
humus is burned out, it takes time to build up a fertile 
soil again. The fire destroys the work it took nature 
many years to do.'* 

The implements needed in stump and boulder blasting are few 
and inexpensive, and most of them are always to be found on the 
farm. 

Big stumps like those found along the Pacific Coast usually 
require a comparatively bulky charge of low-grade explosives, 
which means that a large hole must be dug. In case the stump is 
very large it is best to dig a trench under it, using a little dynamite 
to assist in the digging. In this work a pick or mattock and a long- 
handle shovel are necessary. As a matter of fact these two tools, 
and an axe, are usually required, no matter how the hole for the 
explosive is made. 

For medium-size and smaller stumps, a two-inch wood augur 
to drill under the stump (and into the tap root if there is one), is 
necessary, and a crowbar with one pointed end and one chisel end 
is very useful. One of the most important implements used in stump 
blasting, is the tamping stick. This must have no metal about it. 
The tamping sticks used on the Pacific Coast are six to eight feet 
long and two to three inches in diameter. For tamping the holes 
under other stumps a stick five or six feet long and one and a half 
inches in diameter is large enough. 

19 




I 



00 w 
I 



CLEARING 



THE 



LAND 



For blasting large boulders it may be necessary to use a ham- 
mer and hand drill, unless they are to be broken by mudcapping 
or by placing the explosive underneath them. The hole under the 
boulder can be made with a crowbar. If the boulder is drilled, 
a small tamping stick, from one-half to three-quarters of an inch in 
diameter should be used. If the charge is put under the boulder, 
the tamping stick should be one and a half inches in diameter and 
five or six feet long. Hardwood tamping sticks are, of course, best, 
because they last longest. 




ONE MORE OUT OF THE WAY 



21 



BLASTING STUMPS 



IT IS usually necessary in blasting stumps to place the charge as 
* close as possible to the toughest part of the stump, so that the 
part most difficult to break will be hit first and hardest. Gen- 
erally this spot will be directly under the middle of the stump, and 
it is sometimes necessary to bore into the tap root. When a very 
big stump is rotten at the middle, but has several large branching 
roots, better results will be had if the charge is increased a little 
and located deeper in the ground, or if under each of the large roots 
a small charge is placed, and all of the charges fired simultaneously 
with a blasting machine. 




STUMP BOUND WITH CHAIN 



In order to keep the explosive from splitting the stump, and 
wasting a part of the force which should be expended in lifting 
it out, it is the practice of some blasters to wind a stout chain around 
the stump several times. It is a good idea to use a chain with all 
hollow stumps. 

Some large stumps can be effectively removed by exploding 
simultaneously charges loaded in holes bored from different sides, 
so that they will intersect under the center of the stump. The 
cartridge containing the detonator (blasting cap or electric fuze) 

23 



CLEARING THE LAND 

should be loaded first, so that it will be at the intersection of the 
holes; then the different holes should be loaded, making sure that 
the first cartridge in each hole touches the primer (the cartridge 
containing the detonator). When the primer is exploded, it will 
explode the entire charge. 

If the above directions are closely adhered to, the general run 
of stumps can be blown out satisfactorily and cheaply. The stumps 
of some kinds of trees, however, require special treatment to get the 
best results, and detailed instructions concerning them are given in 
the following pages. 

Southern Pine Stumps 

The use of explosives in blasting southern pine stumps, espec- 
ially in very sandy soils, has not been generally recommended in 
the past, because the cost has seemed high in comparison with the 
value of the land. The increased value of land and the improve- 
ments in explosives have, however, now made it entirely feasible to 
remove these stumps with dynamite. This work can be done with 
less dynamite, if a good team of horses with a bull chain is used to 
pull out pieces and drag them from the field. 

Pine stumps should be considered in two classes — those with 
tap roots and those without. The first part of a pine stump to rot is 
the tap root, and a field that looks very discouraging will often be 
found easy to clear. 

In blasting southern pine stumps the important feature is to 
place the explosive close to the point of greatest resistance, which 
is in the tap root directly under the center of the stump. This 
tap root can usually be located by digging underneath the smooth 
side of the stump. When the tap root is located, dig an opening, 
one to two feet deep, down by the side of the tap root; then bore 
an augur hole two inches in diameter into the tap root on an angle 
of from 35 degrees to 50 degrees. The augur hole should be 
bored not less than three-quarters of the way through the tap root; 
care being taken not to drill entirely through, for by so doing a 
great deal of the explosive force would be wasted in the back of 
the hole, which would then be in the ground. Load with from one 
to three 1 Y4 x 8-inch cartridges (depending on the size and age of 
the stump), of 40 per cent, dynamite, and tamp firmly to the sur- 
face with damp clay. The blast will cut off the tap root twenty 

26 




BLASTING STUMPS AT IVOR, VIRGINIA 



CLEARING THE LAND 

to thirty-six inches below the surface and turn out the stump in 
pieces. These stumps can also be blown out without taking the 
time to bore into the tap root, if a little larger charge of dynamite 
be placed firmly against the tap root a foot or two below the sur- 
face and closely confined with tamping. A convenient implement 
for making the hole in the ground when blasting in this way is a three- 
inch post-hole augur. 

When the tap root is to be bored into, it is advisable to use a 
two-inch wood auger, as the dynamite can then be more closely 
compressed under the center of the stump where the resistance is 
greatest. If clay cannot be found to tamp the charge under the 
first stump blasted, use sand. After one stump is blasted, you can 
usually find good tamping material at the bottom of its roots. 

Careful record was recently kept, in order to arrive definitely 
at the exact cost of explosives necessary to properly blast out these 
southern pine stumps. Three hundred and twenty-five stumps were 
blasted which averaged in diameter 28!/2 inches, and the cost of 
explosives, including dynamite fuze and blasting caps, or electric 
fuzes, averaged a little more than 1 8 cents per stump. 

Southern pine stumps without tap roots are sometimes found 
in land having a sandy top soil with a hard subsoil. In this case 
30 per cent, dynamite may give the best results. The charge 
should be placed under the middle of, and as close to the stump as 
possible. 

Second-Growth Stumps 

There is often directly under a second-growth stump, the 
decayed remains of the original stump; this is soft, and the force of 
the explosive when placed on it, seems to merely scatter this dead 
wood and has no marked effect upon the stump. To overcome 
this difficulty, it is a good plan to dig under the stump and place 
a good-sized flat stone between the roots, leaving only room on 
top of the stone for the dynamite. Damp clay should then be 
firmly packed around the dynamite. This gives the explosive suffi- 
cient resistance to lift out the stump. 30 or 40 per cent, dynamite 
should be used. It should be remembered that best results will be 
had from the explosives recommended for blasting the above stumps, 
if they are exploded with No. 6 or stronger detonators. 

27 




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CLEARING THE LAND 



Western Fir, Pine and Cedar Stumps 

In the States of Washington, Oregon and California, where 
the rainfall is large and the ground in the forests is always damp, 
many of the trees grow to great size — some being eight or ten feet 
in diameter. The roots of these trees usually spread out near the 
surface and do not grow deep into the ground, as might be expected, 
tap roots being extremely rare. The object when blasting the 
stumps of these trees is not to split them, but to bring them out 
entire at one blast, with all of the roots possible, because if the 
charge of explosives is so gauged and located as to split the stump, 
it generally fails to bring out all of the pieces. As the principal 
object is to get out as much of the stump as possible at a minimum 
cost, it is better to blast it out first and then it can be easily split 
afterward, by means of a small quantity of dynamite exploded in 
auger holes. 

The common rule in blasting these stumps is to use one and 
one-half pounds of stumping powder per foot of diameter, with 
stumps up to four feet, when the bottom is clay. For larger sizes it 
is advisable to use two to two and one-half pounds of this powder 
for each foot in diameter. For stumps in gravelly or loose ground 
one pound more should be used for each foot in diameter. 

The charge of explosives is best placed when there is sixteen 
to twenty-four inches of earth between the charge and the bottom 
of the stump. This results in the force of the explosion radiating 
to all sides, lifting the stump clear of the ground, and bringing with 
it the greatest length of roots. If the charge is placed too close 
to the stump, the effect is to split it, leaving the roots to be dug out 
at extra labor and expense. It is advisable with large stumps to 
chamber, or expand, the bottom of the hole, so that the entire charge 
can be concentrated under the center of the stump. To do 
this a hole is bored beneath the stump by means of a dirt auger 
or small post-hole auger. In this hole a small charge is usually 
exploded with fuse and blasting cap and no tamping is used. The 
quantity of explosives to be used in chambering, depends, of course 
on the size of the charge necessary to blast out the stump. Usually 
from half a cartridge to two cartridges of stumping powder will 
be sufficient. After the hole is chambered the blasting charge should 
be loaded in the usual way and thoroughly tamped. 

29 




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CLEARING THE LAND 



Redwood and *Bigtree Stumps 

The best explosive for these stumps is a comparatively slow- 
acting explosive, which has more of a lifting and heaving, than a 
shattering effect. 

The way to approximately estimate the quantity of explosive 
necessary to blast out stumps larger than eight feet in diameter, is 
to square the largest diameter in feet, the result being approximately 
the number of pounds required. For example, if a stump is eight 
feet in diameter the largest way, the charge should be about sixty- 
four pounds. Stumps less than eight feet in diameter require a 
little greater charge for their size than do the larger stumps, and 
the rule with them is to use as many pounds as eight times the largest 
diameter in feet. On this basis a stump six feet in diameter would 
need about forty-eight pounds of powder. However, the success- 
ful blasting of these large stumps depends greatly on the judgment 
of the blaster, and these rules can only be considered as a general 
guide. This can easily be understood when it is remembered that, 
owing to difference in soil or some peculiarity in the growth of the 
tree, it sometimes requires the same quantity of explosives to properly 
bring out a stump six feet in diameter as it does one eight feet in 
diameter. 

In blasting these stumps a trench is dug large enough to per- 
mit placing the entire charge of explosives directly underneath the 
center of the stump. A little dynamite blasted in holes punched 
with a crowbar will prove of great assistance in digging this trench. 
If low powder is used and the ground is wet, the charge should be 
placed in a waterproof bag. 

A detonator equivalent to, or stronger than, a No. 6 blasting 
cap, or electric fuze, should always be used in one of the prim- 
ing cartridges. The proper way to make the primer is shown on 
pages 88 and 90. If several cartridges are used as a primer, they 
should be tied in a compact bundle with the primed cartridge in 
the center. 

Avoid being on the same side of the stump as the trench when 
the blast is fired, as fragments, etc., are thrown with more violence 
and to greater distances on that side. 

*"Bigtree" is the name given to the "Sequoia Washingtoniana," one of the gigantic trees of the Pacific Northwest. 

81 

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CLEARING THE LAND 

Stumping powder is also used in blasting California redwood 
stumps. The illustration on page 28 shows two large redwood 
stumps which had practically one root below the surface, although 
this root had separated above ground into two trees. The cir- 
cumference of the stump just above the surface of the ground was 
seventy-five feet. This stump was completely removed, as shown 
on pages 28, 30 and 32, with ninety-three pounds of stumping 
powder. Six trenches were dug under the stump at different points, 
five of these being loaded each with twenty-five I Yi x 8-inch car- 
tridges of this explosive, and the sixth with thirty 1 Yi x 8-inch 
cartridges. These charges were then connected up electrically, and 
the trenches were thoroughly and compactly tamped above the 
explosives to the surface of the ground. The six charges were 
then fired simultaneously with a blasting machine. The illustration 
on page 28 shows the blasting machine used and the cartridges of 
stumping powder on the ground preparatory to charging the trenches. 



Cypress Stumps 

Cypress stumps are found, as a rule, in swamps where the 
soil is a soggy muck often covered with water. Through the land- 
reclaiming operations in the Southern States many of these swamps 
have been drained, leaving land of wonderful fertility. The cypress 
stumps have no tap root, but have large **spreaders" reaching out in 
all directions to such an extent that they are interwoven with those 
of neighboring stumps, forming a tangle of roots that never rot. 
The strongest and quickest dynamite in the hands of careful blasters 
gives the best results in this work. The common practice is to place 
1 !/4 X 8-inch cartridges under each of the principal spreaders, and 
fire all simultaneously by means of a blasting machine. The cypress 
wood, being extremely soft, splits easily, and the quick explosive 
shatters the stump and releases it from the entangling roots. 

In order to obtain the best results in blasting cypress stumps the 
electric system of blasting should be employed. Sixty per cent, 
dynamite detonated with a No. 6 electric fuze is recommended for 
this work. 

When cypress stumps are not blasted until after the swamps 
have been drained, 40 per cent, dynamite should be used. 

33 



CLEARING THE LAND 



FELLING TREES 

Occasionally when clearing land of growing timber, it is of 
advantage to blast out the entire tree and saw off the root after- 
ward. The process here is exactly the same as in stump blasting, 
but little, if any, more dynamite being required to bring out the 
tree, roots and all, than to blast the stump after the tree has been 
cut. The blast lifts the tree straight up a foot or two ; then it falls, 
generally with the wind. 

SPLITTING STUMPS AND LOGS 

When stumps, particularly large ones, are blasted out whole 
or nearly so, it is usually necessary to split them up so that they can 
be conveniently handled or burned. This can be readily accom^ 
plished with dynamite; only a small quantity being required, if the 
charge is properly tamped in auger holes bored part way through 
the stump. 

In the South the pine stumps are very large producers of tur- 
pentine and by-products. Before the wood in the stump can be 
distilled, it must be broken into pieces small enough to suit the 
retort. Nothing is so effective as dynamite for breaking up a stump 
for this purpose. Charges of a few inches of dynamite exploded 
simultaneously in several auger holes bored in the stump, will shatter 
it into exactly the size required. 

When logs are split up to be burned quickly, the same method 
is used as when splitting stumps; but if they are to be split for fence 
rails, cord-wood, charcoal, or other purposes where comparatively 
even and regular sections are required, blasting powder may be used. 
This explosive is so much slower in action than dynamite that a 
series of properly gauged and properly placed charges will split a 
log along the grain, just as evenly as if a number of wedges were 
used. This method of splitting logs is so much quicker, cheaper and 
easier than any other, that those who have once become proficient 
at it, never give it up. Auger holes are bored along the line of the 
grain, about one-quarter to one-half of the way through the log, the 
depth of the holes and the distance between them depending on the 
kind of wood, the grain and the diameter of the log. A few ounces 
of FF blasting powder is put into the bottom of each hole, care 
being first taken to see that the hole is dry, then wooden plugs are 

36 




if 

lij > 

CE O 



Z Q. 

li S 

-I a 

"J ^ 

Li. C 



CLEARING THE LAND 

driven firmly into the tops of the holes to tamp or confine the 
charge. In some kinds of wood it is best to leave a considerable 
air space between the bottom of the plug and the powder. The 
plugs must have a groove in the side large enough to admit the 
electric squib wires or fuse. As blasting powder is exploded by a 
spark or flame it is not necessary to use a detonator (blasting cap or 
electric fuze) when blasting with it. If electric squibs and a blast- 
ing machine are used for exploding the charges, they can all be 
fired simultaneously. This usually is the best and cheapest way, 
as a little less powder is required than when the charges are ex- 
ploded separately with fuze. Electric squibs are similar in appear- 
ance to electric fuzes, except that they have a paper capsule instead 
of a copper cap. They do not explode when the electric current 
passes through them, but ignite the blasting powder by a flash. 
When using electric squibs, it is only necessary to have the groove 
or channel in the sides of the wooden plugs large enough for the two 
small wires to run through it, if the cap of the electric squib is put 
in place before the plug is driven in. When driving the plug care 
must be taken that the wires are kept free, and that the insulation 
on them is not abraded. If it is not convenient to provide wooden 
plugs in this work, damp clay tamping may be used on top of a wad 
of newspaper. A log two feet in diameter, and four or five feet 
long, can usually be split in two with one two-ounce charge of FF 
blasting powder, fired as described above. Longer logs require two 
or more holes, and logs of greater diameter require heavier charges. 
The holes should be from one and one-eighth to two inches in 
diameter. 

Logs up to six feet in length can be split at once into a number 
of pieces, by exploding a single charge of low-grade dynamite 
in a hole bored about twelve or fourteen inches straight into the 
center of one end. Two ounces is about the right charge for a 
log two feet in diameter. 



37 



BOULDER BLASTING 



J^HP""^ 


■ 




1 



THE BOULDER — BEFORE THE BLAST 



TPHERE are three ways in which boulders can be blasted. 
■^ These are known as **Mudcapping/' "Snakeholing" and 
"Blockholing." **Mudcapping*' and *'Snakeholing" are the 
easier and quicker methods, but require more dynamite. It is 
almost impossible to shatter large round boulders of hard rock by 
either of these methods, without using an excessive quantity of ex- 
plosives, which makes blockholing necessary with boulders of this 
kind. 



Mudcapping ("Doby Shooting" or "Blistering") 

Boulders may frequently be broken by exploding a small 
charge of dynamite on their surface. The charge should be placed 
on the spot which would be struck with a sledge if the boulder was 
to be broken in that way. The dynamite should be packed in a solid 
mass by slitting the paper cartridge shells, but should not be spread 
over the surface of the boulder any more than absolutely necessary. 
A blasting cap crimped on to fuse should be placed in the middle 
of the charge, and the whole covered with six inches of damp clay 
or sand. This material should be pressed firmly over the mass of 
dynamite, care being taken not to cover the free end of the fuse. 

39 




tJLAS I IINta A BOULDER 



C L E A RING THE LAND 

It is advisable if the boulder is deeply imbedded in the ground, to 
dig away or loosen some of the earth surrounding it before blasting. 

If the boulder is cracked or seamy, the best results may be 
secured by placing the charge in some depression and covering it 
with a quantity of clay or sand. This will furnish more resistance 
and make available a greater force from the explosive. 

The quantity and grade of explosives required naturally de- 
pend on the size and shape of the boulder. The "grain'' and kind 
of rock are also important points. Forty per cent, dynamite is the 
grade recommended, and the quantity required will vary from one 
to ten pounds, the latter quantity being necessary only when the 
boulder is a very large one. The dynamite should be exploded 
with a No. 6 detonator. 

Snakeholing 

Proceed as in stump blasting, taking care that the hole in the 
ground be made under a flat or hollow side of the boulder and 
not under a bulging side. Make a hole with a crowbar or a dirt 
auger, close up under the center of the boulder and load the 
dynamite into the hole in the same manner as you would for stump 
blasting. Care should also be taken when the charge is placed, 
to leave no means by which the force of the dynamite may escape. 
If it has not been thoroughly tamped, or if it is too near the surface 
of the ground, and not in the proper position beneath the boulder, 
the dynamite m.ay blow the dirt out and leave the boulder un- 
touched. 

Dynamite of 30 per cent, to 40 per cent, strength should be 
used when breaking up boulders in this way. Only from one-half 
to two-thirds the quantity of dynamite that would be required to 
mudcap the same boulder, is needed provided the boulder has a 
hollow or concave side underneath. The results are better in damp, 
heavy soil than in light or sandy soil. 

Blockholing 

This is the most economical method of using dynamite to 
break up boulders, and although it takes some time and labor to 
drill the one or more necessary holes in the boulder, it will often 
be found the most satisfactory in the long run. The holes in large 

41 



HANDBOOK OF EXPLOSIVES 

boulders should be an inch or more in diameter, while three-quarters 
or seven-eighths of an inch will answer for the smaller ones. To 
properly break up a boulder weighing about ten tons, a hole should 
be drilled in it from ten to twenty inches deep, as the shape and grain 
of the rock may demand, and large enough in diameter to hold a 
pound or more of dynamite with the necessary tamping. Smaller 
boulders require holes from four to six inches in depth, which, if 
necessary, can be filled full of dynamite, and no tamping used. 

30 per cent, dynamite will usually give best results in 
blockholing, unless the boulders are very large and hard, when 40 
per cent, should be used. 




THE BOULDER— AFTER THE BLAST 



42 



THE SECOND STAGE 



Getting the Farm in Shape 



DIGGING DITCHES 

DRAINING SWAMPS 

GRADING ROADS 

EXCAVATING FOR BUILDING 
FOUNDATIONS AND CELLARS 

SINKING WELLS 

DIGGING HOLES FOR FENCE- 
POSTS 



GETTING THE FARM IN SHAPE 



"ll/HEN the land has been cleared the work of getting the farm 
^^ into shape begins. Ditches must be dug to properly drain 
the fields — particularly the swampy ones, where often the 
best soil is found. Roads must be constructed, wells sunk, barns, 
houses and other buildings erected, fences built, and so on. Dyna- 
mite is necessary in every one of these operations, if the work is to 
be done expeditiously and economically. The information to be 
found in the succeeding pages, as well as that already given, has been 
secured entirely from farmers and others who have used explosives 
for the various purposes described. 

DITCHING 

Ditches for draining, and trenches for pipe lines and tiling, 
are necessary on every farm, and should always be dug with ex- 
plosives. The ditching which pays best is that which drains swampy 
lands. There are about seventy million acres of this land in the 
United States, much of which would bear magnificent crops, if 
drained. The cost of draining by the usual method of digging 
ditches by hand or machine, has been almost prohibitive, with the 
result that this land is still lying idle. Now that it has been found 
that dynamite will dig ditches through any swamp where a man can 
penetrate, no matter how thick the vegetation covering it may be, 
there is no reason why the large majority of this seventy million acres 
of swamp land should not be cultivated. 

When a ditch is blasted there is no outlay for expensive equip- 
ment, because the only machinery necessary is an iron bar, pointed 
at one end. In hard, dry ground, a sledge or maul is needed to 
drive the bar down to the necessary depth. There is no delay and 
expense getting machinery into place through swamps and thickets. 
Not even a team is needed when ditches are dug with dynamite, 
for one or two men can easily carry sufficient dynamite to dig a 
ditch four or five hundred feet long, four or five feet wide, and 
three or four feet deep. 

46 



GETTING THE FARM IN SHAPE 



When ditches are dug with dynamite the material taken from 
the ditch is practically all thrown out by the blast, and little or no 
shoveling is necessary. This material is not heaped up along the 
sides of the ditch, where it would occupy land that should be raising 
crops, and would prevent free drainage into the ditch, but is spread 
evenly over the ground for a considerable distance on each side of 
the ditch. 

Ditches can be dug with dynamite at any time on a couple 
of hours' notice, as dealers who handle explosives can be found in 
almost every locality. In wet weather, especially after heavy rain 
falls, when it may be necessary to cut ditches and channels in a 
hurry, this method is invaluable. 

It is just as easy to dig a curved ditch with dynamite as it is 
to dig a straight one, because the center of the ditch follows the 
line of holes in which the dynamite is loaded. 

Although a channel or ditch dug with dynamite, and 
particularly one cut through dry or sandy ground, is not so even 
and regular at first as one dug by hand or machine, it will square up 
very soon after water fills it, and, as the banks have a good slope, 
there is little caving afterward. 

How it is Done 

Dynamite digs the cleanest and most regular ditches in wet 
clay or gumbo. In this kind of ground it is not necessary to put 
the holes so close together, or to use quite so much dynamite as when 
the clay is only damp. In dry clay, sand marl, or other loose ground, 
the weaker and consequently less expensive grades of dynamite give 
best results. 

If the soil is very light, it may occasionally be necesary to "trim 
up" the ditch a little by hand after the blast, but even then it is 
at least 23 per cent, cheaper to dig the ditch with dynamite than 
by machine, and it is also many times quicker. 

When ditches are dug in wet clay it is best to explode the 
dynamite with blasting cap and waterproof fuze. If the holes are 
spaced the proper distance, only the hole in the middle of the 
row requires a blasting cap, as the explosion of the dynamite in this 
hole explodes that in the next holes on either side, and so on almost 
instantaneously from hole to hole, to the two opposite ends of the 

47 



GETTING THE FARM IN SHAPE 

row. This plan of exploding the dynamite in one hole by that in 
the next hole, instead of putting a detonator in each hole, works 
best in wet ground, and when the ground and water are not cold. 
The temperature of the air, water and ground is an important point. 
If it is below 50 degrees F., the dynamite may become so insensitive 
that the charge in one hole will not explode the next one. It is, 
therefore, recommended that whenever possible, this work be done 
when the ground is wet and the weather warm. 

When all conditions are favorable the holes can be spaced two 
feet apart, put down three feet and loaded with one cartridge, 
I !/4 X 8 inches of 50 per cent, or 60 per cent, dynamite, for a ditch 
four feet deep and six feet wide at the top. Three men can dig a 
thousand feet of this ditch in three days, with two hundred and 
fifty pounds of dynamite, and at about one-third of the cost of any 
other method. Fifty, sixty, or even a greater number of holes, can 
be blasted simultaneously with a blasting cap in the middle hole 
only. Sometimes as much as a quarter of a mile of ditch is blasted 
in this way at once, but unless a number of men are loading the 
holes it is not advisable to blast so much at one time, because the 
dynamite in the holes first loaded will be under water so long, before 
the last holes are loaded, that it may deteriorate. The middle hole 
should be loaded heavier than the others — say, with three cartridges 
instead of one cartridge, one of them being the **prinier"; that is, 
the cartridge in which the blasting cap crimped to the fuze has been 
placed. It is also a good plan to load the next hole on either side of 
the middle one with three cartridges instead of one. When water 
covers the holes, or almost fills them, it acts as a tamping, and no 
other tamping is necessary. The middle hole should be loaded last, 
so as not to keep the blasting cap and fuse under water longer than 
absolutely necessary. The blasting cap SHOULD BE CAREFULLY 
CRIMPED TO THE FUSE WITH A CAP CRIMPER, and NOT with a 
knife or the teeth. After the blasting cap has been crimped to the 
fuse, thick grease or tallow {not oil) should be spread over the 
fuze where it enters the blasting cap. You cannot be sure that 
everything will work satisfactorily, unless you use a high-grade of 
waterproof fuze and a No. 6, or stronger, blasting cap. Blasting 
caps are weakened by dampness, so it is always better to use a grade 
stronger than one which would only just explode the dynamite. 

49 



GETTING THE FARM IN SHAPE 

Always cut the end of the fuse squarely across, and always 
put the fresh cut end in the blasting cap. 

The iron or steel bars for punching the holes in the ground 
should be a little larger in diameter than the dynamite cartridges, 
sharpened to a blunt point on one end and at least two feet longer 
than the depth of the ditch. For making holes in dry ground, 
where the bar is driven down with sledges or mauls, it is a good 
plan to have it only long enough to extend about four inches above 
the surface when the hole is deep enough. This short bar should 
have a ring or collar welded on close to the top, so that it can be 
easily loosened with a crowbar if it becomes fast. The bars should 
have a blunt point and not a long, tapering one, because the dyna- 
mite cartridge cannot be easily forced to the bottom of a hole if made 
by the latter. 



BAR FOR PUNCHING THE HOLES 

The labor of punching the holes may be reduced by spacing 
them farther apart, but when this is done it is necessary to increase 
each charge of dynamite. If under the conditions described above 
the holes were spaced three feet instead of two feet apart, the 
charge of dynamite in each one should be increased to one and a 
half 1 !/4 X 8-inch cartridges. 

Ditches up to sixteen feet wide can be dug with dynamite, but 
for this width three rows of holes placed alternately, as shown below, 
are necessary. 

o o o o o o o 

o o o o o o 

o o o o o o o 

The rows should be about the same distance apart as the 
distance between the holes in the row. 

When deeper ditches are wanted, the holes must be put down 
deeper, and larger charges of explosives be used. 

A ditch, two or two and one-half feet deep, and five feet wide, 
can be blasted through wet clay or gumbo at a cost of 1 Yi cents, 
or less, per lineal foot of ditch. 

61 



HANDBOOK OF EXPLOSIVES 

One Missouri farmer recently stated that a ditch which he 
had just dug through swampy land with dynamite for $ 1 00, would 
have cost $400 or $500 if it had been dug in any other way. 

When the clay or gumbo is only moderately wet or damp, it 
is necessary to locate the holes closer together, if a blasting cap is 
used in only one of them, as the shock from exploding dynamite will 
not carry as far through the dryer ground, as it will through wet 
ground or water; and it will not carry as far through light or loose 
earth, as through that which is close and heavy. The distance 
between the holes in clay, which is only damp, should not be 
greater than a foot and a half; and in wet sand, from a foot to a 
foot and a half. 

When the ditch is to be dug through dry ground, it is neces- 
sary to have a detonator (blasting cap and fuse or electric fuze), 
in each hole, and to tamp with damp earth above the explosives to 
the top of the hole. The best plan is to fire a number of holes at 
one time by electricity, so that each charge can help the other. 

Although it takes a little longer to dig ditches with dynamite 
in dry ground than it does in wet ground, because each hole must 
be primed, it is but little, if any, more expensive, as the holes can be 
spaced from two and a half to three feet apart, and a lower grade of 
dynamite can be used. The proper explosive for blasting dry 
ground in this way is dynamite of 25 per cent, to 40 per cent, 
strength, of which about two 1 J/^ x 8-inch cartridges should be 
used in each hole. 

In blasting ditches, as in all other blasting, the grade and 
quantity of explosives to use, and the spacing and depth of bore 
holes, are governed by the kind of ground in which the work is to 
be done, whether it is wet or dry, and by the size of the ditch to 
be dug. 

If lateral ridges are left in the bottom of the ditch, the holes 
should be spaced a little closer in the next attempt. Sometimes the 
material blasted out is thrown farther away from the ditch if the 
holes are put down at an angle of about 45 degrees instead of 
vertically. 

There is a great deal of difference between the way an explo- 
sive acts in close, wet ground, which offers considerable resistance, 
and the way it acts in open dry ground, offering very little resistance. 
Consequently it is necessary, in order to get the best work out of 

52 



GETTING THE FARM IN SHAPE 

explosives, that is, to make them do the most work possible for the 
money they cost, to use one kind in close, wet ground, and another 
kind in open, dry ground. It is also cheapest to space the holes 
and to fire the explosives differently according to the kind of ground. 

As ground in which ditches are to be dug is not always either 
wet clay or dry loam, but often ranges between the two, it may be 
necessary to modify the two methods described above in the spac- 
ing of bore holes and size of charges. 

When shale or rock is encountered in digging ditches, holes 
must be drilled and fired as in any other kind of rock blasting. The 
depth and spacing of these holes, and the kind and quantity of 
explosives which will give best results, depend altogether on the 
nature of the rock. 

DRAINING SWAMPS 

In comparatively flat, open country underlaid by a clay sub- 
soil, swamps, often several acres in extent, occupy the lower areas. 
These swamps are natural reservoirs, generally formed by drainage 
filling up the depressions until the water is high enough to flow out 
over the lowest barrier. They are not fed by springs, but by the 
natural drainage. To drain these swamps by means of ditches 
would sometimes require several miles of ditching, which in many 
cases is impracticable. Yet such swamps often cover the very 
best kind of crop-bearing ground, and accordingly any practical 
method by which they can be disposed of, is a matter of great inter- 
est to many farmers. That many of them can be completely drained 
without ditching, and at very little expense, has been clearly demon- 
strated. This is done by boring holes down through the impervious 
ground in the bottom of the swamps, to the sand, gravel or other 
open material below, and exploding relatively heavy charges of 40 
per cent, semi-gelatin in the holes. The number of holes required 
depends on the size of the swamps and the thickness of the subsoil. 
Sometimes a comparatively large swamp can be permanently dried 
up by means of three or four well-blasted holes in the lowest part of 
the bottom. Again a row of holes, spaced thirty or forty feet 
apart, across the lowest part of the swamp may be necessary. For 
lasting results, the holes must sometimes be drilled as deep as thirty 
feet, although ten-foot holes are often sufficient. A two-inch 

53 



HANDBOOK OF E XPLOSIVES 

wood or dirt auger is generally used. This auger is welded to a 
piece of gas-pipe six or eight feet long. The top of this is threaded 
and a tee attached so that a wood or pipe handle can be used to 
turn the auger. When the hole is bored down until the handle 
of the auger approaches the surface of the water, or as low as it 
can be conveniently operated from the raft or boat, the tee is un- 
screwed, another section of pipe attached, and the tee is screwed 
on to the top of this section. This process is repeated until the hole 
has reached the required depth. Then the dynamite is loaded. To 
do this properly a section of two-inch gas-pipe should be pushed 
into the hole for six or eight inches. This pipe should be long enough 
to extend above the surface of the water. Through this the U/^ x 8- 
inch cartridges should be pushed, one or two at a time, with a 
wooden stick, to the bottom of the hole, where they will remain 
when the stick is withdrawn, if given a good firm push. The last 
cartridge should be primed with a No. 6 waterproof electric fuze, 
for good results cannot be expected if fuze and blasting caps are 
used in this work. The electric fuze must have wires long enough 
to reach well above the surface of the water. No tamping is re- 
quired, as the water above the explosive serves the purpose. After 
the primer cartridge is in position, draw out the gas-pipe carefully, 
so as not to pull the electric fuze out of the cartridge. The electric 
fuze wires should then be connected to well-insulated leading wire 
(all connections being carefully waterproofed), and the leading 
wire should be carefully paid out, while the raft or boat is moved 
fifty to one hundred yards away. The other ends of the leading 
wire should then be attached to the blasting machine, the operation 
of which will explode the charge in the bottom of the hole. The 
approximate charge for a hole ten feet deep is seven cartridges, 
for a hole fifteen feet deep, twelve cartridges, and for a hole thirty 
feet deep, twenty-five cartridges, 1 !/4 x 8 inches, of 40 per cent, 
semi-gelatin. 

A few years ago a Kansas farmer, who had owned a farm 
for twelve years with a forty-acre swamp on it, blasted a row of 
holes spaced about thirty-five feet apart, across the lowest part where 
the water was three feet deep. The swamp dried up immediately 
and the first year sixteen hundred bushels of oats were raised on 
the ground it had occupied. Since then four crops of alfalfa per 
year have been raised on this ground. 

54 



GETTING THE FARM IN SHAPE 

ROAD BUILDING 

No farm can be properly conducted without good, hard roads, 
and the only way to have good roads about the farm is to lay them 
out correctly in the first place, and then grade and ditch them 
properly. This grading and ditching always takes more or less 
digging, but by using dynamite to loosen up the hard ground or 
shale, and to blast out the rock, roads can be built quickly and at 
comparatively little expense. 

To blast cuts not more than five feet deep through hard earth 
or shale, drive a bar down to within six inches or a foot of *' grade," 
and in the hole thus made explode one or two cartridges of 30 
per cent, dynamite. Be sure to first tamp the charge properly. 
Holes should be spaced five to eight feet apart. In this way the 
material to be removed is not only broken up so that it can be 
shoveled very easily, but a good portion of it is spread over the 
surrounding land and does not have to be handled. 

Roads can be ditched with but little shoveling, by exploding 
about half a cartridge of 30 per cent, dynamite in holes a foot 
deep and two to three feet apart along the line of the ditch. 

If it is necessary to cut through rock, the holes should be 
drilled closer together and heavier charges used. When crushing 
stone for country roads and turnpike, it will be found much cheaper 
to locate the crusher at a ledge, and blast out the rock, than to 
keep teams traveling over the whole countryside, gathering up 
boulders and hauling them to the crusher. 

DIGGING CELLARS AND FOUNDATION TRENCHES 

No farmer wants to put an expensive barn or house on a poor 
foundation, and it would be hard to find a greater benefit to a 
farm than a good cellar. The proper location for a building is on a 
knoll, and the rock often comes nearer to the surface on the knolls 
than it does in the hollows. This makes both good foundations and 
good cellars possible with the help of dynamite. With sharp drills, a 
couple of sledges, 40 per cent, dynamite, fuse and No. 6 blasting 
caps, a cellar can be excavated, and the rock squared up for founda- 
tion piers or walls, in a short time and at little expense. In fact, it 
takes little, if any, more blasting to put a house or barn on rock than 
it does to quarry elsewhere the necessary stone for cellar walls and 

55 



GETTING THE FARM IN SHAPE 

foundations. The rock blasted out can also be used for the walls 
and piers. 

If it is not possible to locate the house and barns on rock, then 
the foundation trenches and cellar in the clay, gravel or shale can 
be dug much more quickly and easily if the material is loosened up 
with an occasional charge of 30 per cent, dynamite. 

The stone for cement construction of all kinds can be easily 
blasted out in the proper size for the crusher with 40 per cent, 
dynamite. 

WELL SINKING 

Wells are frequently sunk through rock or ground which can- 
not be dug to advantage without the aid of explosives. In well 
sinking, when rock is reached and the earth or sand above is prop- 
erly shored, a circle of four or five holes should be drilled about 
half-way between the center and the sides of the well, pointing at 
an angle, that will bring them close together near the center when 
they are three or four feet deep. These holes should be loaded 
about half-full of 40 per cent, gelatin dynamite, with damp clay 
tamping packed firmly above this to the top of the hole, and then 
fired simultaneously from the surface by electricity. The result of 
this shot will be to blow out an inverted cone or funnel in the center, 
and the bottom can then be squared up with another circle of holes 
drilled vertically as close to the walls as possible. If the well is large 
it may be necessary to drill a circle of holes between the inner and 
outer circle. The above process should be repeated until the well 
has passed through the rock or has been sunk to the necessary depth. 
Nothing weaker than No. 6 electric fuzes should be used to explode 
the gelatin dynamite. 

DIGGING HOLES FOR POLES AND POSTS 

Much time and labor can be saved by using dynamite as an 
assistant in digging holes for poles and posts. Only enough explo- 
sive should be used to make the digging easy, as larger charges 
loosen up the ground to such an extent that it is difficult to make 
the poles or posts as firm as they should be. This applies particu- 
larly to large poles. 

57 



GETTING THE FARM IN SHAPE 



The best way to do this blasting is to drive a crowbar down 
into the ground within six inches of the desired depth of the hole. 
In the bottom of the hole made by the crowbar, explode from one- 
quarter of a cartridge to one cartridge of 40 per cent, dynamite. Do 
not tamp, as this would cause the explosive to loosen the ground too 
much. 



69 




2 



THE THIRD STAGE 



PREPARING THE LAND 
FOR CROPS 



PLOWING WITH DYNAMITE 
DYNAMITE IN THE ORCHARD 



PREPARING THE LAND FOR CROPS 



PLOWING WITH DYNAMITE 

pLOWS have been used for many centuries to break up the 
■^ surface of the earth, so that seeds could be easily planted and 
grow better; but from the forked stick of the savage to the great 
gang plow of the modern farmer, plows have rarely broken up the 
ground satisfactorily to a depth greater than eight or ten inches. 

In rich, open soil that is properly fertilized, plowing will break 
up the ground sufficiently for many years, but eventually a hard 
stratum, sometimes called ** plow hardpan " or ** plow sole," forms 
just below the depth to which the plow reaches. This " plow 
sole '* must be broken up, or the land will begin to fail. Even when 
** plow sole '* does not exist, land that has been bearing crops for 
many years is wonderfully improved, if the lower soil is broken up 
and aerated once in every six or eight years. 

Land that has only a thin surface soil underlaid by an imper- 
vious or partly impervious subsoil, sometimes known as '* hardpan," 
will not produce crops at all, or else only produce them in a very 
limited degree, or for a short time only, unless the subsoil be thor- 
oughly broken up. Where the fertile surface soil is fairly deep, 
attempts have been made to farm this land by means of drainage 
and irrigation, the surplus water of the wet season being drained 
off, and the lack of water in the dry season being overcome by irri- 
gation. This system is expensive, and at best gives only temporary 
relief, for in the end it tends to increase the thickness of the hardpan, 
and in some localities may be responsible for alkali soil. The heavy 
rains of the wet season often cannot penetrate this subsoil, so the 
water rushes to the low ground, carrying much of the valuable sur- 
face soil with it. There, still unable to sink through the hardpan, 
it prevents plowing until the water evaporates or causes the seed to 
rot if it is already in the ground. 

63 




SUBSOIL BLASTING— THE RESULT— CORN RAISED ON THE BLASTED GROUND 



PREPARING THE LAND FOR CROPS 



In places where irrigating is carried on extensively, the ground 
sometimes becomes so saturated that the water level rises close to 
the surface. This makes the land practically worthless for vegeta- 
tion of any kind other than pasturage. If alkali exists in the soil, 
or is deposited by irrigation, no crops can be raised when the ground 
water reaches the level of the plants' roots. 

In some parts of the country, ridges or " dikes " are run at regu- 
lar intervals over all of the higher ground, to keep the thin surface 
soil from being washed away. Considerable time and labor is re- 
quired to make these dikes, as well as to keep them in shape, and 
they take up ground that should be bearing crops. On land of this 
kind, drainage, irrigation, dikes, late plowing and rotting seed could 
all be done away with if the subsoil or hardpan were properly 
broken up. 

There is only one practical way to upturn and aerate these 
lower soils, or to shatter hardpan, and that is by blasting. 

Subsoil and hardpan can be plowed just as effectively with 
explosives as surface soil can be with a plow, and just as cheaply, 
too, for it is only necessary to do this subsoil plowing once in a 
number of years. 

Blasting subsoil has been practiced for some years by a few 
progressive farmers in different parts of the country. These men 
have had wonderful results in the way of increased crops on land 
already under cultivation, and in transforming into excellent grow- 
ing land that which would have been worthless without dynamite. 

It is only lately, however, that the benefits from plowing with 
dynamite have become generally recognized. The Department of 
Agriculture, the various agricultural colleges, and men prominently 
identified with farming in different parts of the country, are all now 
making a careful study of this question in order to determine the 
strength, quantity and kind of explosives, the most effective way of 
using them, and the depth and spacing of the holes, for best results. 
Farmers everywhere are experimenting on their own account. Many 
are already claiming that subsoil plowing with explosives will be a 
common custom in a few years, and will represent millions of dollars 
in increased crops from lands already under cultivation, and more 
millions from land now producing nothing but weeds and considered 
entirely worthless. Along with this increase in land production, 

66 



PREPARING THE LAND FOR CROPS 

will be a reduction in the expense of draining and irrigating; be- 
cause, when hard subsoils are properly shattered with explosives, 
the surplus water falling in rainy seasons sinks down to the lower 
soils, and does not need to be drained off. Neither is it necessary 
in dry seasons to provide water by means of irrigating to keep the 
crops from drying up, because the water which has settled deep in 
the ground during the heavy rains is drawn up in the dry season 
by the plant roots as they need it. 

Forty-nine per cent., representing about two and one-half mil- 
lion bales, of the damage done to the 1909 cotton crops was due 
to either excessive or insufficient moisture. This loss could have 
been largely prevented by blasting the subsoil so that it could absorb 
the surplus water in wet weather and retain it for the dry weather, 
when the plants need it. 

In some places the subsoil is so close to the surface, and so hard, 
that the plant roots grow down to it, but are unable to penetrate 
it. Ground of this nature will not produce crops amounting to any- 
thing until the subsoil has been blasted, no matter how much it is 
drained and irrigated. After being blasted, however, it often be- 
comes wonderfully productive. 

Different methods of loading and spacing the holes are prac- 
ticed in different places, the usual distance apart in the South being 
4 to 8 feet, with a charge of about one-fourth of a P/4 x 8-inch 
cartridge of 30 per cent, or 40 per cent, dynamite in each hole. 
In Kansas and other Western States, holes are spaced from 15 to 
30 feet apart and loaded with a charge of from one to one and a 
half 1 !4 X 8-inch cartridges of 1 5 per cent, or 25 per cent, dynamite, 
in each hole. The proper place to locate the charge so that it will 
shatter a maximum area of subsoil, is two to three feet below the 
surface, if the hardpan is thin, and the holes are placed four to eight 
feet apart. In thick hardpan, with the holes 15 to 30 feet apart, 
the charge should be located about six inches above the bottom of 
the hardpan. 

In California, hardpan has been blasted very effectively and 
cheaply with 5 per cent, low powder. A slow-acting dynamite 
does better work than a quick one, because its effect is more spread- 
ing. The difference in the results of the use of slow explosives and 
of quick ones on hardpan is illustrated on pages 66, 68 and 70. 

67 



PREPARING THE LAND FOR CROPS 



The exact size of the charge, the proper spacing of the holes, 
and their depth, depend largely on the kind of subsoil to be broken, 
its thickness and distance below the surface. 

When the bore holes are 15 feet or more apart, it is best to 
explode a number of charges simultaneously by means of electricity, 
but when the bore holes are closer it answers the purpose about as 
well to explode the charges with fuse and blasting caps. 

Some years ago F. G. Moughon, of Walton County, Georgia, 
blasted a piece of land with charges of about onethird of a 1 1/4 x 8- 
inch cartridge of dynamite in bore holes, two and a half to three 
feet deep, spaced eight and ten feet apart. This ground has pro- 
duced since then phenomenal crops of watermelons, averaging 50 
to 60 pounds each. J. H. Caldwell, of Spartanburg, S. C, ad- 
vocates holes two feet deep spaced four feet apart. He explodes in 
each of these about one-fourth of a V/4 x 8-inch csurtridge of 30 
per cent, dynamite. These holes are not thoroughly tamped, but 
when they are loaded enough loose dirt is pushed into each one to 
close up the openmg and hold the fuse upright. Although this 
lack of tamping undoubtedly results in wasting some of the force 
of the dynamite, Mr. Caldwell believes that it is cheaper in the end. 
because of the saving of time in loading the holes. When the ground 
was not blasted, the corn had to be planted 18 inches apart in the 
row, with rows 4 feet apart. The blasted ground was able to nour- 
ish stalks six inches apart, with the rows spaced as before. The corn 
on the blasted ground grew almost one-half taller than that on the 
unblasted ground and produced a crop 33 per cent, greater. This 
corn was weighed by a committee of the Chamber of Commerce, 
of Spartanburg, S. C, and report made to Col. E. J. Watson. 
United States Commissioner of Agriculture, of Columbia, S. C. 
The committee also stated that the blasted ground produced fuller 
ears and firmer grains. 

It is impossible, in the limited space of this handbook, to give 
details concerning the results of the subsoil blasting done by many 
of those who have profited greatly by it, but J. T. Garrett, of 
Laurens, N. C, who greatly improved his corn and watermelon 
yield, and M. T. Williams, of Medicine Lodge, Kan., who in- 
creased the value of his land almost tenfold for alfalfa, must be men- 
tioned. 

69 



PREPARING THE LAND FOR CROPS 

The entire cost, including labor and explosives, of blasting an 
acre of ground with holes 3 feet deep and 15 feet apart, using a 
half-cartridge I J/4 x 8 inches in each hole amounts to about $ 1 8. 
The same charge in holes spaced 20 feet apart brings the cost per 
acre down to about $11. If charges of one cartridge be used in 
holes 20 feet apart, the entire cost will be about $ 1 5 per acre. 

In many parts of California and some of the other Western 
States true hardpan exists. The only way in which land underlaid 
by this hardpan can be made worth anything, is to break up the 
hardpan with explosives. Then fruit trees will grow and bear just 
as well as anywhere else. 

Tools Used When Blasting Subsoil 

In the South the holes in which the dynamite is exploded are 
made by driving into the ground with sledges a steel bar, two and 
a half to three feet long, and a little larger in diameter than the dyna- 
mite cartridges. This bar has either a flange or a lug near the top, 
so that after it has been driven down it can be loosened with a 
crowbar. The bar should have a short point, for a long, tapered 
point would make a hole so small at the bottom that the dynamite 
cartridge would lodge part way down. An illustration of this bar 
will be found on page 5 1 . 

In Kansas the holes are usually bored with a 2-inch dirt or 
wood auger having a long shank, as the bottom of the hardpan 
there is often several feet below the surface. A crowbar to drive 
stones out of the course of the auger is also useful. 

If you have not tried blasting subsoil, or ** plowing with dyna- 
mite," we suggest that you lay off an acre, or else a plot 100 feet 
by 200 feet in one of your fields, and blast it as described above. 
Plant the whole field and note how much better and heavier the 
crop is on the blasted ground. An experiment of this kind will cost 
but little, and should be the means of greatly increasing your income 
in the future. 

DYNAMITE IN THE ORCHARD 

Dynamite is an exceedingly valuable aid to the successful grow- 
ing of fruit trees. Those who have tried it are firmly convinced that 
no method of excavating the hole for the roots of the young tree, 
whatever may be the soil conditions, is so economical, quick or pro- 
ductive of as desirable after-results, as blasting with dynamite. 

71 







,*.*.•.••..»: r 



fi; 






IP 












IHH 




i 




w,-^K. 




■ 


I^^E ^ 


\ 








1 








iVH|i|Sg^ 


^^^^^M^^^B 


^■HH^ 










^^S^ 







PREPARING THE LAND FOR CROPS 



Dynamite should be used when planting trees, because one 
cartridge of 30 per cent, dynamite will excavate instantly the hole 
in which to plant the tree, and because the explosion of the dynamite 
loosens up the soil for many yards around, giving the tree roots a 
better opportunity to spread out than when the hole is dug by hand. 
The explosion also destroys all insects and grubs in the ground 
nearby. Every year or so during the life of the trees, small charges 
of 30 per cent, dynamite should be exploded midway between them, 
and some four or five feet below the surface of the ground. This 
tends to keep the soil open so that it will hold moisture and gives 
the tree roots every chance to spread, besides keeping the ground 
free from grubs. 

When older trees begin to fail, it is sometimes of much benefit 
to detonate a charge of explosives directly under them. To do this 
a hole should be started seven or eight feet away from the tree 
and driven downward and toward the tree on a dip of about forty- 
five degrees. When the hole is in twelve feet, the bottom will be 
from eight to nine feet directly under the trunk of the tree. This 
hole should be ** sprung,'* or ** chambered,** with a 11/4 x 8-inch 
cartridge of 40 per cent, dynamite, and then loaded with from 5 to 
10 pounds of low powder, with tamping above the charge to the 
mouth of the hole. The explosion of this charge breaks up the hard 
soil below the roots of the tree, so that it can hold a greater quantity 
of moisture, which the tree roots will take up as they require it. The 
beneficial results from this blasting may not appear in the next crop, 
but will be manifest in succeeding ones for many years. 

When breaking up hardpan between the trees in the California 
orange groves, it is the custom to bore down with an auger just 
through the hardpan — usually about four feet below the surface. 
This hole is *' sprung *' or ** chambered *' with one-half of a 1 Vi x 8- 
inch cartridge of stumping powder (10 per cent.), and then, after 
being loaded with about one and a half pounds of low powder, and 
well tamped, is blasted. 

If the soil is inclined to be swampy, heavier charges, exploded 
deeper in the ground, will break up the lower impervious stratum, 
and permit the surplus water to sink into the earth, where it will be 
conserved, and afterwards given up to the roots of the trees as they 
require it. 

73 



PREPARING THE LAND FOR CROPS 



An example of the great benefit derived from the use of ex- 
plosives, for excavating the holes in which young trees are to be 
planted, was recently brought to our attention by a well-known fruit 
grower, who reported that he planted nine peach trees a few years 
ago to determine positively whether anything was to be gained by 
using dynamite. Three of the trees were planted in holes made by 
drilling a two-inch auger hole three to four feet deep, and exploding 
a charge of dynamite in the bottom ; the other six trees were planted 
in holes of the regulation size dug by hand. Three years later the 
three trees which had been planted in the blasted holes were strong 
and healthy, and produced between five and six bushels of very fine 
peaches; but the other six trees, planted on the same ground without 
blasting, bore practically no peaches at all, both fruit and leaves 
having shrivelled up and dropped off during the dry season. 

A similar experience was that of a Western farmer, who set 
out an apple orchard more than twenty years ago. After digging a 
number of holes for the young trees, he decided that life was too 
short for such slow methods, and drove to town, where he bought 
a case of dynamite, some blasting caps and fuse from the hardware 
dealer. With this he blasted holes for the remaining trees, and to- 
day, twenty years later, he reports that the trees planted in the blasted 
holes are superior in every way to the others, and that they have 
produced better fruit and more of it, ever since they began bearing. 

One successful Missouri fruit grower states that he would never 
think of replanting where a tree had died out, without blasting the 
hole for the new tree with dynamite. The new trees then are not so 
likely to be attacked by wet rot and other diseases, and are markedly 
better than those planted in holes which are not blasted. 

So many other similar cases have been brought to our atten- 
tion that we feel every fruit grower should give the question of using 
explosives careful and thorough consideration. 



75 




A DIFFICULT PROBLEM 

Although the tree had been cut from this stump for many years 

the stump was still comparatively solid 



THE LAST STAGE 



KEEPING UP THE FARM 



BREAKING UP ICE GORGES 
STARTING LOG JAMS 
BREAKING UP LOG ROLLWAYS 



KEEPING UP THE FARM 



AFTER a farm has been properly laid out and drained, with 
all buildings erected, roads graded and fences up; when 
wells have been driven, fruit trees planted and subsoil blasted, 
there is still work to be done year by year, and in much of this work 
the use of dynamite means a great saving of time and money. Its 
use for blasting up subsoil in land that is deteriorating, for blasting 
under and between failing fruit trees, and for cleaning up occasional 
stumps and boulders overlooked in the first clearing, has already 
been referred to. It is also necessary for keeping roads and ditches 
in shape, and is indispensable in those parts of the country where ice 
may form gorges in the streams in the early spring. Unless these 
gorges are promptly broken, great damage may be caused by the 
water backing up behind them, sometimes overflowing farms and 
towns, and carrying away buildings and bridges. 

Dynamite is also of great service in starting log jams, breaking 
up ** rollways,** etc., in the districts where timbering is carried on- 

BLASTING ICE 

Ice in streams sometimes forms jams or gorges 10 to 40 feet 
high. When water backs up behind these, bridges may be carried 
away and other great damage and loss to the community result. All 
of this can be prevented at a small expense by the use of dynamite. 

To break up floating ice so that a gorge will not be formed, 
charges of dynamite should be exploded on the surface of the ice, 
the size of the charge depending on the thickness of the ice. If the 
floating ice is in large sections, the work of blasting should be con- 
ducted on a broad, slow-running part of the stream, where it is 
possible to get on to the ice either directly from the shore or in boats. 
Successive charges, consisting of a number of cartridges of 40 per 
cent, dynamite, tied together in a bundle, should be laid on the ice 

79 



PREPARING THE LAND FOR CROPS 

and exploded with fuse and blasting cap, until the ice is properly 
broken. When the streams are narrow, the charges of explosives 
may be thrown on to the ice from the shores or, if the ice is running 
swiftly, the charges may be dropped on to the cakes from the down- 
stream side of bridges. The charge to be thrown on the floating ice 
should be prepared by tying securely together in a bundle the re- 
quired number of cartridges, the cartridge in the middle of the bundle 
having been primed with a blasting cap and waterproof fuse. The 
place where the fuse enters the blasting cap should be well coated 
with soap or thick grease to keep water from getting into the blasting 
cap and damaging it. A block of wood, a stone, or some other 
object that would prevent its rolling should then be tied to the charge, 
which, after the fuse is lighted, should be thrown or dropped as 
nearly as possible on to the middle of the ice cake. Particular atten- 
tion must be given in this operation to the length of the fuse. Fuse 
generally burns from two to three feet per minute, and when the 
fuse is lighted, with the dynamite still in the hands of the operator, 
extra time for possible emergencies should be allowed. 

To blast out ice gorges the charge, usually of from 5 to 25 
pounds of 40 per cent, dynamite, should be pressed into a hollow 
or crevice at what appears to be the weakest part of the gorge. This 
charge should be exploded from a distance by electricity, so that the 
operator can be on shore when the explosion takes place and the 
gorge moves out. If the first shot does not start the gorge, the pro- 
cess should be repeated until it is broken. To open great ice gorges, 
such as the one that formed in the Niagara River in April, 1909, 
much larger charges are necessary. In one blast on this work a 
charge of 2500 pounds of dynamite was exploded. 

Watering places for stock along the banks of streams can be 
easily kept free from ice in winter by the use of a little dynamite 
from time to time. 

Since ice blasting is always done in cold weather, it is necessary 
to give particular attention to having the dynamite thoroughly 
thawed. If this is not done, poor results will follow. 

81 



HANDBOOK OF EXPLOSIVES 

"STARTING" LOG JAMS 

Forty per cent, semi-gelatin is invaluable for breaking log jams. 
A charge exploded on a log, above or below water, will cut it in 
two as readily as can be done with an axe, with the advantage of 
the operator being at a safe distance when the jam ** starts." 

BREAKING UP "ROLLWAYS" 

Forty per cent, dynamite can be used to great advantage in 
breaking up '* rollways " of logs, large quantities of this powerful 
explosive being used each season by the lumbermen. A case of 
this explosive, thawed in the morning, will, if covered by an old coat 
or blanket and protected from the cold, be ready for use at any time 
during that day. The huge piles of logs, frozen and bound together 
with snow and ice, can be instantly loosened with a little dynamite 
instead of prying them apart slowly and laboriously with cant hooks 
and levers. At a season when time is truly money, the dynamite 
used in this way saves many times its cost. The cases of dynamite 
can be transported easily and safely if properly handled. No log- 
ging camp can afford to be without it a single day when engaged in 
this work. 



82 



EXPLOSIVES AND 
BLASTING SUPPLIES 



HOW TO HANDLE, STORE 
AND USE THEM 



BLASTING BY ELECTRICITY 



PRINCIPLE OF EXPLOSIVES 



OLASTING Explosives are divided into tw^o general classes, 
'-^ known as high explosives and low explosives; dynamite and 

low powder are examples of the former, and blasting powder 
of the latter. They are solids, having bound up in themselves very 
powerful energy, which, when properly directed, can be made to 
do an enormous amount of valuable work. To get them to do this 
work economically, they must be closely confined in the midst of 
the material which is to be broken or thrown out, and then exploded ; 
that is, instantly changed from a small volume of a solid to a very 
large volume of a gas. Low explosives (blasting powder) will do 
but little, if any work, if not tightly confined or corked up when 
exploded, but high explosives change from a solid to a gas so quickly 
that they will jar and break material on which they are lying when 
they explode, even though they are confined very little, as in " mud- 
capping " or ** blistering " boulders, or if not confined at all, as when 
floating ice is blasted. 

Low explosives are exploded by a spark, but a spark will not 
explode high explosives, although it may ignite them, and the heat 
and pressure caused by burning in a confined space may result in 
an explosion after a time. 

High explosives can only be properly exploded by a very 
powerful shock. This shock is brought about in their use by ex- 
ploding a detonator, which has been inserted in the charge of ex- 
plosives. This detonator is either a blasting cap, which is exploded 
by a spark from the fuse, or an electric fuze (pronounced fu-zee) 
which is exploded by a fine wire, superheated by an electric current. 

When fuse and blasting caps are used it is necessary for the 
blaster to cut the necessary length of fuse from a roll, and fasten 
the blasting cap to the freshly cut end of the fuse with a cap crimper. 
The electric fuze is furnished with the two wires sealed into it. 

Blasting powder is exploded by the spark from fuse or an electric 
squib, no detonator being required. 

86 



HANDBOOK OF EXPLOSIVES 

The Detonator 

When " high explosives '* were first manufactured, they were 
not as safe to handle or use as the properly made ones now are. 
Consequently they could be exploded with a small and weak de- 
tonator. The standard explosives now manufactured cannot be 
completely exploded, and give best results, if anything weaker than 
a No. 6 detonator is used with them. Nevertheless, many dealers 
will sell to inexperienced consumers No. 3 or No. 4 detonators, 
simply because the price is a little lower than that of stronger ones. 
This they do regardless of the fact that the reduction in price is 
much more than offset by the loss of power due to the incomplete 
detonation of the explosives with which these weak detonators are 
used. 

Storage 

Explosives should be stored in a dry, well-ventilated place, not 
warmer than 80 or 90 degrees Fahrenheit. They should always 
be kept under lock and key, so that children or irresponsible people 
will not have access to them, and should not be stored in a locality 
where hunting or other shooting may be done, unless they are kept 
in a bullet-proof building. 

Most high explosives freeze at a temperature between 43 and 
50 degrees Fahrenheit, and when frozen, will explode either only 
imperfectly or not at all. Frozen di^namite should therefore never 
be used under ani) circumstances. 

Packages and Transportation 

High explosives are put up in cartridges, generally 1 1/4 x 8- 
inch, and then packed with sawdust in wooden cases. They can, 
when thus packed, be shipped on freight trains or carried in wagons, 
with but little danger of explosion. There have been instances where 
they have been dropped, and the cases smashed, without an ex- 
plosion resulting, showing that these high explosives stand very rough 
treatment; still, it should never be forgotten that they are explosives, 
and we would particularly direct the reader's attention to pages 99 to 
10] of this handbook, where stress has been laid on *' What Not to 
Do." If these instructions are observed, the user need have no fear 
of an accidental explosion. 

86 



EXPLOSIVES AND BLASTING SUPPLIES 



Thawing 

There are various ways of thawing high explosives, but the 
only safe methods are those which thaw slowlg and graduallg. 

Burying dynamite in water-tight boxes in manure is a safe and 
fairly effective way to thaw it, provided the manure is fresh. 




THAWING KETTLE 



The safest and best way is in a ** thawing kettle." A thawing 
kettle is a double-galvanized iron bucket, having an outside space 
for hot water and an inner water-tight receptacle for the dynamite. 
Some thawing kettles are made in one piece, while others are in 
effect two pails, the outer one for hot water and the inner one for 
the dynamite. (See illustrations.) 




THAWING KETTLE 

Never thaw dynamite by putting it near a fire, nor in the oven, 
nor against a stove or steam pipe. Do not try to thaw dynamite 
by exposing it to steam, nor by soaking it in hot water. 

It is not at all necessary that the cartridges should feel warm. 
All that is necessary is to have them soft all the wag through. 

87 




FOLDING 
CARTRIDGE PAPER 7 

AROUND FUSE 



ONE METHOD OF MAKING A PRIMER WITH BLASTING CAP AND FUSE 



EXPLOSIVES AND BLASTING SUPPLIES 

Every user of dynamite who has occasion to thaw it should 
make it a rule never to heat water in the thawing kettle, but in some 
other receptacle, and then, after removing the dynamite, pour the 
hot water into the water compartment. This water should not be 
so hot that it would burn the hand. Water may be heated in the 
outer pail of two-piece thawing kettles, provided the inner pail has 
been removed; but it is never safe to put a one-piece thawing kettle 
over a fire, even after the dynamite has been removed, because 
enough nitroglycerin may have leaked out from dynamite previously 
thawed, to cause an explosion if the thawing kettle is put over a fire. 




THAWING KETTLE 



A simple and effective thawing arrangement may be made by 
suspending a small pail or bucket containing the dynamite in a 
larger bucket partly filled with warm water. Care must be taken 
to prevent any of the water from getting into the inner pail, which 
should have a tight-fitting lid. The whole should be covered with 
a piece of carpet, or an old coat, until the dynamite has thawed. 

Priming 

Placing the detonator in a cartridge or charge of high ex- 
plosives is called priming it, and the cartridge or part of a cartridge 
with the detonator in it is called the '* primer *' or " primer cart- 
ridge.*' 

The first step in the preparation of the primer is to cut the 
necessary length of fuse from the roll, cutting it squarely across and 
not diagonally. After carefully inserting the fresh-cut end as far as 
it will go into the blasting cap, fasten the latter securely to the fuse 
with a cap crimper. When crimping the blasting cap to the fuse, 
the crimp should be made near the end which the fuse enters, so as 
not to disturb in any way the explosive which the blasting cap con- 

89 



CUTTING FUSE y ■ ^ J 



TAKING OUT CAP 




PLACING CAP ON FUSE 




MAKING HOLE IN 
SIDE OF CARTRIDGE 






TYING STRING TO FUSE 



u 






INSERTING 

FUSE AND CAP IN SIDE 

OF CARTRIDGE 






'^ / 



TYING FUSE 
TO CARTRIDGE 



ANOTHER METHOD OF MAKING A PRIMER WITH BLASTING CAP AND FUSE 



EXPL OSIVES AND BLASTING SUPPLIES 

tains. An attenmpt to crimp the blasting cap near the other end would 
be likely to cause it to explode. The crimp should be made secure 
enough to prevent the fuse from pulling out of the blasting cap during 
the charging and tamping of the bore hole, and, what is quite as im- 
portant, particularly in wet work, the crimp should be tight enough 
to keep water out of the blasting cap. A coating of soap, tallow or 
thick grease, spread over the fuse where it enters the blasting cap, 
will help greatly to keep the water out. This grease should not be 
applied until after the blasting cap has been crimped to the fuse. 
Oil should not be used for this purpose, as it may soak into the fuse 
and damage it. 

Be sure to cut the fuse long enough to allow it to extend several 
inches from the mouth of the bore hole when the primer is in place, 
and also long enough for the blaster to reach a place of safety before 
the charge explodes. Fuse burns from two to three feet per minute. 

To prime a dynamite, or other high explosive, cartridge with 
blasting cap and fuse, make a hole in the end of the cartridge after un- 
folding the paper shell, or in the side of the cartridge near one end, 
with a small pointed stick, about the diameter of a lead pencil. This 
hole should not be much larger in diameter than the blasting cap, 
for an air space around it always detracts from the force with which 
a blasting cap shoots into the explosive. The blasting cap should 
not be so deep in the cartridge that the fuse will come in contact 
with the explosive for any appreciable distance, as side spitting of 
the fuse usually ignites the explosive. 

Best results will be had if the blasting cap is pointed straight 
down into the primer cartridge. 

When the blasting cap has been put in the end of the cartridge, 
the paper must be folded carefully about the fuse, and tied securely 
with a piece of string. When the blasting cap is inserted in the side 
of the cartridge near the end, the fuse is held in position by tying it 
with a double loop of string around the cartridge. Both of these 
methods of priming are clearly shown in the illustrations on pages 
88 and 90. 

Charging 

Having primed the cartridge in the manner described, insert 
it in the bore hole and push it carefully home. It is sometimes well 
in dri) ground to slit the paper shells lengthwise before putting the 

91 



HANDBOOK OF EXP L O S I V E S 

cartridges into the bore hole. Push them firmly into place, so that 
they will fill up the diameter of the hole, for crevices or air spaces 
greatly lessen the power of an explosive. If more than one cartridge 
is used in a charge, it is only necessary to prime the top or outside 
one, but in the bore hole each cartridge must touch the one pre- 
viously loaded. If any space between the cartridges occurs through 
falling dirt or stones, or through the sticking of a cartridge in the 
bore hole, a partial misfire may result. 



Tamping 

After the charge is pressed home, as directed, put in two or 
three inches of fine dirt or sand, and tamp (pack) lightly. Then 
fill up two or three inches more of the hole with tamping material, 
packing it in a little more firmly. After five or six inches of tamping 
covers the charge, the tamping may be pressed firmly into place 
without danger of premature explosion. The tamping material 
should be packed as firmly on top of the charge as can be done 
without moving the electric fuze or blasting cap and fuse in the 
primer, but it is not safe to tamp by a blow any stronger than can 
be given by hand. Fill the bore hole up with tamping until even 
with the surface. The firmer and harder the tamping can be made 
(without overlooking the above precautions) the better will be the 
results. If the bore hole is not properly tamped, the charge is likely 
to ** blow out,'' or at any rate some of its force will be wasted. 

Be sure the tamping is done with a wooden stick. Never use 
a metal bar or anything having metal parts. 



NOTE 



Always be careful, when using dynamite, not to taste it nor 
get it on the hands, for the smallest quantity will nearly always cause 
a violent headache. It is an excellent plan to wear a pair of old 
gloves, which should be destroyed before they become saturated with 
the nitro-glycerin in the dynamite. With a little care, a great deal 
of dynamite can be handled before it is necessary to destroy the 
gloves. 

92 



EXPLOSIVES AND BLASTING SUPPLIES 



BLASTING SUPPLIES 

When detonating high explosives with fuse and blasting caps, 
the only supplies necessary besides the fuse and blasting caps, and 
the tools for making the hole and for tamping, are the cap crimper 
and the thawing kettle. The latter has been described under the 
paragraph on *' Thawing," page 87. 

When the blasting is done by electricity, a blasting machine, 
coil of leading wire and electric fuzes take the place of fuse and 
blasting caps. A spool of connecting wire and roll of insulating tape 
should also be provided. A leading wire reel is not a necessity, but 
saves time and keeps the leading wire in good condition. 

Fuse 

Fuse is made in several different grades, put up in double coils, 
consisting of two single coils of 50 feet each, and packed in cases 
containing from 500 to 6000 feet. In wet work, " double-tape " 
or '* triple-tape *' fuse should be used, while ** single-tape " or " cot- 




FUSE 



ton " will answer in dry work. Fuse should be stored in a cool, 
dry place to keep it from hardening so that it will break when it is 
unrolled, or from getting soft and defective. In cold weather fuse 
becomes stiff and must be unrolled very carefully to keep it from 
breaking. Most fuse burns from two to three feet per minute. 

Blasting Caps 

Blasting caps are small copper cylinders closed at one end, 
which contain a sensitive and highly explosive compound. They 
must always be handled carefully, kept away from heat or sparks, 
and must not be subjected to heavy knocks or jars. They should 
never be carried loose in the pocket, nor permitted to lie about where 
children may find them. They are very dangerous in the hands of 
a child or irresponsible person. They should never be stored or 

98 



HANDBOOK OF EXPLOSIVES 

carried with dynamite, because they are more easily exploded by 
accident than is dynamite, and if they explode in close proximity 
to dynamite they will probably cause it to explode also, and do great 
damage. If blasting caps are to do good work, they must be stored 
in a perfectly dry place, and must not be permitted to lie in a damp 
place for even a short time before using. The charge which they 
contain is very quickly damaged by moisture, and, although it may 
explode when damp, it explodes with so little force that it may not 
detonate the charge of dynamite, or may only partly detonate it. 



No. 6 BLASTING CAP 

Blasting caps are put up in tin boxes, containing 100 each. 
These boxes are then packed in wooden cases, containing from 500 
to 5000 blasting caps. They are manufactured and sold in six 
sizes — No. 3, No. 4, No. 5, No. 6, No. 7 and No. 8, but nothing 
weaker than the No. 6 can be depended on to develop the full 
strength of the explosive. 

Cap Crimpers 

A cap crimper is inexpensive, and absolutely necessary if the 
blasting cap is to be properly fastened to the fuse. Fastening blast- 
ing caps to fuse with a knife or with the teeth is exceedingly dan- 
gerous and inefficient. 

BLASTING BY ELECTRICITY 

When a good deal of blasting is to be done, it is usual to set 
off the blast by means of a blasting machine and electric fuzes. In 
this way any number of charges, from one up to forty or more, can 
be fired simultaneously. This is found very convenient when it is 
necessary to get rid of a large stump or an extra big boulder, as 
frequently several charges fired at the same time will do more work 
than the same charges fired successively, or than one charge as big 
as all of the smaller ones combined. 

A very little thought will show that more work will be done 
when firing a number of blasts simultaneousli^ than when firing them 
singly, while a little experience will teach that much is to be gained 

94 



EXPLOSIVES AND BLASTING SUPPLIES 

by firing even single shots electrically. Another advantage gained 
in firing by electricity is, that in case of a misfire (which can rarely 
happen by this method), it is unnecessary to wait a considerable time 
before returning to the work, as must be done when using fuse. 

Directions 

Use electric fuzes, leading and connecting wire, and blasting 
machine, instead of fuse and blasting caps. The electric fuze wires 
must be long enough to extend several inches out of the bore hole, 
and care must be taken when tamping not to break these wires or 
damage the insulation on them. If more than one charge is to be 




METHOD OF CONNECTING TWO LEADING WIRES TO A THREE-POST BLASTING MACHINE 

fired at one time, separate the two electric fuze wires extending 
from each hole and connect one of these wires to one extending from 
the hole on one side, and the other one to one of the wires extending 
from the hole on the other side, and so on, until all are connected 
together in a string, with one free wire extending from the first hole, 
and another extending from the last hole. If the electric fuze wires 
are not long enough to reach each other, use a piece of connecting 
wire to join them. 

Be sure that all wire ends are scraped clean and bright before 
they are connected together. 

The charges having all been connected as directed above, the 
free wire of the first hole should be joined to one of the ** leading " 
wires, and the free wire of the last hole to the other leading wire. 

95 



HANDBOOK OF EXPLOSIVES 

The leading wires should be long enough to reach a point at a safe 
distance from the blast — say 250 feet, at least. 

All being ready, and not until everybody is at a safe distance, 
connect the leading wires to the binding posts on the top of the 
blasting machine, through each of which a hole is bored for the pur- 
pose, and bring the wing nuts down firmly upon the wires. 

Now to fire: If using a push-down blasting machine, take hold 
of the handle, lift the rack bar (square rod toothed upon one side) 
to its full height and push it down with all force, bringing it to the 
bottom of the box with a solid thud and the blast will be made. 




METHOD OF CONNECTING THREE LEADING WIRES TO A THREE-POST BLASTING MACHINE 



The Blasting Machine 

The "push-down" blasting machine is made in three sizes: 
No. 2, which will fire up to 20 electric fuzes at one time; No. 3, 
which will fire up to 30 electric fuzes at one time; and No. 4, which 
will fire up to 50 electric fuzes at one time. The No. 3 size is made 
with three posts, when so ordered, without extra cost, and the No. 4 
size is always made with three posts. The rated capacity of a three- 
post blasting machine is increased about 50 per cent, when three 
leading wires are used. 

Blasting machines with three posts can be used with either two 
or three leading wires. When used with two leading wires, one 
wire is connected to the middle post and the other to either one of 
the outside posts. When used with three leading wires, those from 

96 



EXPLOSIVES A ND BLASTING SUPPLIES 

the two outside posts are connected to the electric fuzes on the ends 
of the circuit, and that from the middle post is connected to the 
electric fuze wire, or the connecting wire, somewhere near the middle 
of the circuit. 

Leading Wire 
At least 250 feet double of leading wire should be provided, 
so that the blaster will be out of danger when he fires the shot. If 
the blast is a large one, it will probably be necessary for the blaster 



COIL OF LEADING WIRE 



to be 300 or even 500 feet away. Leading wire is sold in 250-feet, 
300-feet and 500-feet coils. 

It is sold by the pound, and weighs about two pounds to the 
hundred feet. 

Connecting Wire 

Connecting wire is used to connect electric fuze wires in adjoin- 
ing bore holes when the wires are not long enough to reach each 




SPOOL OF CONNECTING WIRE 

Other. It is wound on spools holding one pound or two pounds, and 

is sold by the pound. 

Electric Fuzes 

The electric fuze is a blasting cap having two insulated copper 
wires fastened into it with a composition plug. These wires are 

97 



HANDBOOK OF EXPLOSIVES 

joined together in the cap by a very fine and delicate wire, which 
rough handling may break and make the electric fuze worthless. 
The charge which they contain is just as sensitive to shock, and just 
as easily affected by moisture, as that of the blasting cap ; so the same 




ELECTRIC FUZE 



rules for storing and handling must be observed. Electric fuzes are 
put up 25 or 50 in pasteboard cartons, which are packed for shipment 
in wooden cases. They are made in four grades, numbered 4, 6, 7 
and 8, and with wires from 4 feet to 30 feet long. The strength of 
electric fuzes is exactly the same as that of blasting caps bearing the 
same number, and nothing weaker than the No. 6 grade can be de- 
pended on for best results from high explosives. 

TO PRIME A CARTRIDGE WITH AN ELECTRIC FUZE 

The correct way to prime a high explosive cartridge with an 
electric fuze is to follow the same methods as when fuse and blast- 
ing cap are used. (See pages 88 and 90.) 

The common custom of taking one or more loops, or half- 
hitches, around the cartridge with the wires themselves, after inserting 
the electric fuze cap in a hole made diagonally in the side of the 
cartridge near one end, is always to be condemned. The principal 
objection is that the looping of the wires is very likely to break the 
insulation, causing short circuits, or leakage of electric current in 
wet work. Sometimes even the wires themselves are broken. 

Ordering 

If there is an uncertainty as to what grade of explosive should 
be ordered for any work, a letter, addressed to the nearest office of 
some responsible dynamite manufacturer, telling just what work is 
to be done, will have careful attention. 

If the work to be done warrants it, the manufacturers will send 
to any part of the world, at their own expense, a competent man to 
explain the use of explosives. 

98 



EXPLOSIVES AND BLASTING SUPPLIES 

Precautions to be Observed in General with 
Regard to Explosives 



DON'T forget the nature of explosives, but remember that with 
proper care they can be handled with comparative safety. 

DON'T smoke while you are handling explosives, and DON'T 
handle explosives near an open light. 

DON'T shoot into explosives with a rifle or pistol either in or out 
of a magazine. 

DON'T leave explosives in a field or any place where stock can 
get at them. Cattle like the taste of the soda and salt- 
petre in explosives, but the other ingredients would prob- 
ably make them sick or kill them. 

DON'T handle or store explosives in or near a residence. 

DON'T leave explosives in a wet or damp place. They should 
be kept in a suitable, dry place, under lock and key, and 
where children or irresponsible persons cannot get at them. 

DON'T explode a charge to chamber a bore hole and then im- 
mediately reload it, as the bore hole will be hot and the 
second charge may explode prematurely. 

DON'T do tamping with iron or steel bars or tools. Use only a 
wooden tamping stick, with no metal parts. 

DON'T force a primer into a bore hole. 

DON'T explode a charge before every one is well beyond the dan- 
ger zone and protected from flying debris. Protect your 
supply of explosives also from danger from this source. 

DON'T hurry in seeking an explanation for the failure of a charge 
to explode. 

DON'T drill, bore or pick out a charge which has failed to ex- 
plode. Drill and charge another bore hole at least two 
feet from the missed one. 

99 



HANDBOOK OF EXPLOSIVES 



DON'T use two kinds of explosives in the same bore hole, except 
where one is used as a primer to detonate the other, as 
where dynamite is used to detonate low powder. The 
quicker explosive may open cracks in the rock and allow 
the slower to blow out through these cracks, doing little 
or no work. 

DON'T use frozen or chilled explosives. 

DON'T use any arrangement for thawing dynamite other than one 
of those recommended by the dynamite manufacturers. 

DON'T thaw dynamite on heated stoves, rocks, bricks or metal, 
or in an oven, and don't thaw dynamite in front of, near 
or over a steam boiler or fire of any kind. 

DON'T take dynamite into or near a blacksmith shop or near a 
forge on open work. 

DON'T put dynamite on shelves or anything else directly over 
steam or hot water pipes or other heated metal surface. 

DON'T cut or break a dynamite cartridge while it is frozen, and 
don't rub a cartridge of dynamite in the hands to complete 
thawing. 

DON'T heat a thawing house with pipes containing steam under 
pressure. 

DON'T place a hot water thawer over a fire, and never put dyna- 
mite into hot water or allow it to come in contact with 
steam. 

DON'T allow thawed dynamite to remain exposed to low tem- 
perature before using it. If it freezes again before it is 
used, it must be thawed again. 

DON'T allow priming (the placing of a blasting cap or electric fuze 
in dynamite) to be done in a thawing house or magazine. 

DON'T prime dynamite cartridges, or charge or connect the bore 
holes for electric firing, during the immediate approach 
or progress of a thunderstorm. 

100 



EXPLOSIVES AND BLASTING SUPPLIES 

DON'T carry blasting caps or electric fuzes in your pocket. 

DON'T tap or otherwise investigate a blasting cap or electric fuze. 

DON'T attempt to take blasting caps from the box by inserting a 
wire, nail or other sharp instrument. 

DON'T try to withdraw the wires from an electric fuze. 

DON'T fasten a blasting cap to the fuze with the teeth or by flat- 
tening it with a knife — use a cap crimper. 

DON'T keep electric fuzes, blasting machines or blasting caps in 
a damp place. 

DON'T attempt to use electric fuzes with the regular insulation in 
very wet work. For this purpose secure those which are 
waterproof. 

DON'T worry along with old, broken leading wire or connecting 
wire. A new supply won't cost much and will pay for 
itself many times over. 

DON'T handle fuse carelessly in cold weather, for when cold it 
is stiff and breaks easily. 

DON'T store or transport blasting caps or electric fuzes with high 
explosives. 

DON'T store fuse in a hot place, as this may dry it out so that 
uncoiling will break it. 

DON'T " lace " fuze through dynamite cartridges. This practice 
is frequently responsible for the burning of the charge. 

DON'T operate blasting machines half-heartedly. They are built 
to be operated with full force. They must be kept clean 
and dry. 

DON'T cut the fuse short to save time. It is dangerous economy. 

DON'T expect a cheap article to give as good results as a high- 
grade one. 

DON'T expect explosives to do good work if you try to explode 
them with a detonator weaker than a No. 6. 

101 



THE NEW YORK CENTRAL 

RAILROAD'S AID TO 

FARMERS 




, NEWYORK 

(entral 

^ . LINES ■ 



The New York Central Railroad's 
Aid to Farmers 



pOR a considerable period, interest in the industrial field and its 
opportunities attracted all the attention of the railroad, and, 
while every effort was made to further industrial enterprises, 

very little was attempted in the way of advancing farming interests. 

Recently, however, the NEW YORK CENTRAL RAIL- 
ROAD'S interest in agriculture has assumed an active form. The 
railroad realizes that inasmuch as extension into new territory is 
limited, any increase of traffic must come through a development of 
the resources in the country it already serves. The farm and its possi- 
bilities offers the most apparent opportunity for such development, 
while national interest in scientific agriculture and the receptive atti- 
tude of the farmers themselves make it the best opportunity. 

The farmer's interests and the railroad's business are very closely 
connected. An increase in the farm products will mean more pros- 
perous and better living conditions for the farmer, and more freight 
for the railroad in carrying these products to market. 

This increase in crop yields can only be secured by better farm- 
ing, which means the employment of modern methods and the dis- 
carding of the old, wasteful ones. Farmers must be given an oppor- 
tunity to learn what these new methods are and how they can success- 
fully adopt them. 

With the idea of disseminating this knowledge, and bettering the 
condition of the farmers throughout the territory which it serves in 
New York State, the NEW YORK CENTRAL RAILROAD 
is working along a number of different lines. 

104 



THE N.Y. CENTRAL RAILROAD'S AID TO FARMERS 



Practical Farms 

Not only must the farmers be given an opportunity to learn of the 
new ideas and methods of farming, but they must also be shown that 
these ideas are practical and successful. 

To do this, the NEW YORK CENTRAL RAILROAD 
has purchased two farms, located at West Bergen, Genesee County, 
and Chittenango, Madison County, respectiyely. Both of these 
farms had the reputation of being " run down '* and were selected on 
this account. A practical farmer has been placed in charge, and the 
farms are to be used to demonstrate that it is possible to restore neg- 
lected farms to a fertile condition and to greatly increase the produc- 
tion per acre by the use of careful seed selection, proper tillage and 
intelligent methods of management. 

In this manner the railroad is endeavoring to show what methods 
are desirable and how they may be successfully employed. 

The Farm Bureau 

The NEW YORK CENTRAL RAILROAD has also es- 
tablished a Farm Bureau, which is conducting an extensive campaign 
to improve agricultural conditions and assist the farmers. 

Realizing the value of intensive farming, and that one reason 
why the acreage production in New York State is not greater is that 
in many sections farms are too large and there are not enough farmers 
to operate them, the Farm Bureau has conducted an advertising cam- 
paign through the middle west, and is interesting farmers in the possi- 
bilities of New York State agriculture. 

To this end it has published a book, " Farming in the Empire 
State," together with a list of farms for sale, and is furnishing to home- 
seekers information regarding the agricultural possibilities of different 
districts and locating settlers. The purpose is to attract more farmers 
to New York State, and more farmers will mean a more intensive agri- 
culture and better living conditions. 

105 



HANDBOOK OF EXPLOSIVES 

One of the farmers greatest difficulties often is the securing of 
adequate farm help, and the Farm Bureau has arranged to assist him 
in obtaining it. The various ticket agents furnish blank forms which 
may be filled out with information as to the kind of labor wanted, 
wages offered, etc. These requests are then forwarded to the Farm 
Bureau. The labor is secured for the Bureau by the State Depart- 
ment of Agriculture, and consists both of recent immigrants and those 
who have been in this country for some time and are familiar with 
American methods of farming and farm operations. Inasmuch as 
many of these men have but scanty funds, it is generally necessary to 
deposit their carfare with the ticket agent. This amount can be de- 
ducted from the man's wages after he enters the farmer's employ. 

Through the Farm Bureau the NEW YORK CENTRAL 
RAILROAD is conducting an educational campaign, and is carry- 
ing mformation as to farming operations to the very door of the farm- 
ers in several different ways. 

The railroad supplies trains, known as *' Better Farming Spe- 
cials," equipped both for lecture and demonstration purposes, and has 
secured the co-operation of the State Department of Agriculture and 
the agricultural colleges in supplying lecturers and demonstrators. 
These men are practical farmers who have made a study of conditions 
and are thoroughly acquainted with their subjects and the needs of 
the various localities. At each stop they give talks and demonstra- 
tions on such subjects as fertilizers, feeding of dairy cows, seed testing, 
the treatment of seed to prevent disease, and on pruning and spraying. 

The earnestness of the farmers, both young and old, to secure 
mformation that will be of help to them is marked ; questions are asked 
and answered, and a knowledge of fundamental principles thus ac- 
quired which must, if applied, result in increased crop yields. 

This educational work is further extended by the bulletins issued 
from time to time by the Farm Bureau. These pamphlets detail the 
subjects discussed on the Better Farming Special trains, and also treat 
of practical questions which confront the farmer in his daily farm 

106 



THE N.Y. CENTRAL RAILROAD'S AID TO FARMERS 

practices. Bulletins are published on subjects dealing with the value 
and use of manure, seed selection and seed treatment, cultivation, the 
growing of alfalfa, etc. 

There are numerous questions, however, which cannot be an- 
swered altogether by bulletin information. Conditions vary accord- 
ing to localities, and even in the same localities, and so different results 
are often obtained from the same practices. Any one of a number 
of things may be the reason for these different results. 

Different soils are adapted to different crops, and admit of dif- 
ferent systems and methods of cultivation. Failure may be due to an 
attempt to grow wrong crops, to improper cultivation, or to a system 
of crop rotation which may not be adapted to maintaining soil pro- 
ductiveness and fertility. Orchards may be in need of pruning or 
fertilization, or a dairy may not be giving the results it should. Such 
questions need personal attention. It is very much like a patient whom 
a doctor must visit to prescribe intelligently. 

To assist the farmers in meeting such questions, the Farm Bureau 
has engaged an Agriculturist who is at the farmers' service to per- 
sonally consult and advise with them, free of charge, in regard to such 
matters. 

Any farmer desiring the services of the Agriculturist, makes ap- 
plication to the Farm Bureau and states the matter about which he 
desires information. The Agriculturist then arranges to call upon him. 

In these ways the NEW YORK CENTRAL RAILROAD 
is endeavoring to advance those interests which are so vital to both 
farmer and railroad — to the farmer, directly, because better farming 
will mean greater prosperity, and to the railroad because better farm- 
ing practices will mean more freight to haul, more passenger traffic, 
and a general improvement of living conditions throughout the rail- 
road's territory. 



107 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




1^0(^3 1^0 



FARM 



002 758 430 5 • 



GoJtl^Go) 



IMPROVEMENT 



' NEIWYORK 

Central 



LINES 



USE OF EXPLOSIVES 
IN FARM WORK 



Issued by 
HEW TORI CERTRAL i HUDSON RIVER RAILROAD CO. 




LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



DDDE7Sfl43DS 



u^ii: — ^ n^. 



